In the Know: Binay SALN

MANILA, Philippines–In his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2013, Vice President Jejomar Binay declared 11 real estate properties worth P13.8 million.

These are a house and lot in San Antonio Village in Makati City; another lot in the same subdivision; six residential lots in Muntinlupa City, Laguna and Batangas; and three parcels of agricultural land in the provinces of Laguna, Bataan and Isabela.

Binay declared two vehicles worth P11.16 million—a Ford Club Wagon and a Toyota Land Cruiser.

In 2012, he sold his property worth P8 million in Alfonso, Cavite province, according to his SALN for that year.

Binay has been accused of owning other various high-end properties.

Ernesto Mercado, former Makati City vice mayor, has accused Binay of owning a 350-hectare agricultural estate in Rosario town in Batangas.

Mercado furnished the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee with an aerial video footage and still pictures of a P1.2-billion property in Rosario that he said was owned by Binay.

Binay’s camp maintained that he did not own the estate, claiming that he leased only 9 hectares of it for a piggery, JCB Farms, and a flower farm for his wife, former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay.

Since Binay sold his interests in the piggery to Agrifortuna Inc. in 2010, only his wife’s flower farm remained under lease, his camp said. The lessor of the property now is Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corp., operator of Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park, it said.

Mercado also claimed that Binay owned expensive real estate in Laurel, Batangas. However, Binay’s legal counsel Martin Subido said the Vice President no longer owned the 5,000-square-meter property in Laurel after he sold it in 2012.

The subcommittee is also looking into the allegation that Binay owns an 8,877-square-meter property in Comembo village, Makati City.–Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives