Mayor Binay to comply with detention order as protest to ‘unfair’ Senate probe

By: Aries Joseph Hegina - 10 years ago

Makati Mayor Junjun Binay INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines―Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. on Monday said he will comply with the detention order served by the Senate blue ribbon committee as a protest to what he said was a partial investigation by the panel.

“As a protest to the unfair investigation being facilitated in the Senate, I will accept the decision of the Senate blue ribbon committee. I don’t ask for special treatment. All I ask for the senators are fairness and due process,” Binay said in a speech before his supporters.

Binay said that when he appeared in the Senate, he was ridiculed and treated as an accused. He also claimed that he was ganged up by three senators, referring to Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and Alan Peter Cayetano.

“I was invited as a resource person to clear things yet I was bullied. We are helpless when we are being ganged up by three senators in the Senate,” he said.

Meanwhile, in an earlier press conference at the Makati City Hall shortly after the detention order was released, Binay blasted the Senate committee for not putting “lying” witnesses in contempt.

“Those who lie are not being held in contempt. We have proved several times that their witnesses are lying. Yet there is no move in part of the Senate to cite them in contempt. We see here the selective application of rules. If the witnesses are in their favor, they are not being held in contempt. Yet we are the ones being held in contempt. What we want is fairness and due process,” the son of Vice President Jejomar Binay said.

The Makati City mayor maintained that despite the detention order, he will not attend the “partial” Senate investigation.

Binay also said that he will seek all available legal remedies.

“I will exercise my rights. I will seek remedies available for me,” he said.

Mayor Binay only appeared once in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearings.

The panel convened on Monday to decide whether or not to cite Binay and five other officials in contempt as they continued to snub the hearings on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building 2 which evolved into probing graft allegations against Vice President Binay.