Barefaced lie, say VP Binay’s spokesmen on Delfin Lee accusations

MANILA, Philippines–“A barefaced lie.”

The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay dismissed the accusations of detained real estate developer Delfin Lee that he tried to extort money from him.

“It is no different from the lies made by the senators and their demolition job accomplices,” Joey Salgado, one of the spokespersons of Binay, said in a text message.

Lee, through his lawyer Willie Rivera, told the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee during its Monday hearing on the allegations of corruption against Binay that the Vice President had attempted to extort P200 million from him in exchange for the dropping of the syndicated estafa charge filed against him.

Binay also allegedly asked him to implicate former Vice President Noli de Castro, the former head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, in the scam.

Binay’s camp hit the Senate subcommittee for accommodating Lee, who was the subject of a manhunt with a bounty on his head before he was arrested in Manila last year.

“Not surprisingly, the lawyer for Delfin Lee was allowed to read the statement of the detained property developer, an accommodation not accorded to one of the lawyers of Vice President Jejomar Binay, attorney JV Bautista, who was thrown out of the Senate floor,” lawyer Rico Quicho, the spokesman of Binay for political affairs, said in a statement.

“This only validates our position that this is a one-sided forum solely for the detractors of the Vice President,” he said.

Quicho said Lee’s statement was “a mere rehash and reiteration of previous statements of Senator Trillanes.”

“We need not state the obvious that the two are now working hand in hand to demolish the gains of the Pag-Ibig Fund under the leadership of Vice President Binay,” he said.

Binay also denied Lee’s allegation at the Senate hearing that the Vice President was influencing the judge handling his case.

“It must be dealt with by the court concerned. It is evident that Mr. Lee is looking for a friendly forum where he could defend himself against the crime he allegedly committed against thousands of Pag-Ibig members and, at the same time, conveniently get back at the Vice President, who was instrumental in curbing anomalies in the housing sector,” Quicho said.

Quicho also clarified that contrary to Lee’s claims, it was Binay who advised lawyers not to include De Castro in the charges because there was no evidence against him.

“These belated statements of Mr. Lee are clearly meant to sow intrigue between the Vice President and Mr. De Castro. It is disappointing that Mr. Lee has taken the cue from Senator Trillanes that the Senate could be a venue to tarnish the reputation of people even without proof of the same,” Quicho said.

Rep. Tobias Tiangco, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president, criticized Trillanes for acting as a “lawyer” for Lee.

“If you listen to Trillanes, he makes it look like Lee is a saint. This is a person who destroyed the dreams of ordinary workers. He should take pity on them not Delfin Lee,” he said.

Tiangco noted that Trillanes had been struck with “selective amnesia” in the Pag-Ibig case against Lee.

“Does Senator Trillanes have amnesia? Has he forgotten that Delfin Lee duped thousands? Has he forgotten that it was the President who gave a P2-million reward for the capture of Lee? That the DOJ (Department of Justice) and NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) conducted a long investigation, which exposed the thousands of ghost buyers of Delfin Lee? Or he has been probably paid by Delfin Lee,” Tiangco said.

Sen. Nancy Binay, whose father Vice President Binay, and brother, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, have been at the receiving end of Trillanes’ criticisms, said her colleague was damaging institutions with his unfounded accusations.

Nancy Binay blasted Trillanes for alleging that her father was behind the decision of a Pampanga Regional Trial Court barring Lee from attending the Senate hearing on alleged housing anomalies on Monday.

She said Trillanes made the claim before even reading a copy of the ruling.

“What he is doing is to destroy first and search for proof later, which is doing a great damage to many institutions, and I fear how much damage he will do to our judiciary because of his baseless accusations,” she said in a statement.

She added that Trillanes should ask Justice Secretary Leila de Lima about this development. It was the DOJ that opposed Lee’s Senate appearance, Nancy said.–With reports from Leila B. Salaverria and Gil C. Cabacungan