Binay camp: Contempt threat ‘part of a campaign of lies’ of Senate panel

Makati Mayor Junjun Binay INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate blue ribbon subcommittee’s recommendation to cite Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay and six other local officials in contempt only showed that its investigation was not in aid of legislation but “part of a campaign of lies” aimed at the Vice President, the mayor’s spokesman said on  Tuesday.

“The Senate subcommittee continues to ignore the constitutional rights of the mayor and city officials by refusing to provide them  with questions in advance which is provided for in the Senate rules,”  Mayor Binay’s  spokesperson Joey Salgado said in a text message.

“This clearly shows that the hearings are not in aid of legislation. They are part of a campaign of lies targeting the Vice President,’ Salgado said, referring to the mayor’s father, Vice President  Jejomar Binay, who has declared his presidential bid in 2016.

Salgado was reacting to the subcommittee’s recommendation to its mother committee, the Senate blue ribbon committee, to cite the mayor and six other local officials for their continued refusal to attend the panel’s investigation on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall 2 parking building.

The mother committee headed by Senator Teofisto Guingona III has yet to decide on the subcommittee’s recommendation.

Mayor Binay and some local officials showed up once in the hearings but not in the succeeding invitations by the subcommittee.

The lawyer of the local officials, Claro Certeza, has been requesting the subcommittee to provide his clients advanced copies of questions that would be asked by senators, citing a previous ruling by the Supreme Court.

Certeza reiterated the request in a statement issued this Tuesday.