2 ex-Makati residents: Binay didn’t fulfill his promises
Two former residents of Makati City faced the Senate on Thursday and narrated how they were treated “like animals” when they were forcibly relocated in a housing project in Calauan, Laguna when Vice President Jejomar Binay was still the city mayor.
Edison Rivera and Domingo Arcilla were both presented to the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee by lawyer Renato Bondal, who accused Binay of making money from two housing projects — the Makati Friendship Suites in Makati City, and the Makati Homeville in Calauan, Laguna.
READ: Binay got P1B from Makati, Laguna projects–Bondal
Rivera and Arcilla said they were among the hundreds of Makati residents who were relocated in Makati Homeville in Laguna in 2009.
“Ang masasabi ko po ‘yung pangako ni Vice President Binay ay pawang wala pong katototohanan. Kabaligtaran po lahat ‘yung pinagako n’ya sa aming maganda (All I can say is that Vice President Binay’s promises were all lies. They were all the opposite of the good things he promised to us),” Rivera said.
“Una po nangako s’ya sa amin na bibigyan n’ya kami ng magandang pamumuhay sa Calauan. Noong dal’hin po n’ya kami noon, para kaming mga hayup na ikinarga sa truck, diniskaraga, halos bumabagyo nu’n (He first promised us pleasant living conditions in Calauan. When he brought us there, we were treated like animals who boarded a truck and then got discharged. A storm was brewing then).”
“Ang dinanas po naming kahirapan, ang dala lang po namin noong kunin kami sa San Isidro, halos sobra lang ng konti sa pamasahe. Binigyan ho kami ng dalawang kilo bigas na masama ang lasa, dalawang sardinas na kupi…Pagkarating po, iniwanan na kami. Saan po kami kukuha ng kakainin ng mga panahong ‘yun (Just to paint a picture of the hardships we experienced: The only thing that we bought with us from San Isidro was little money. They gave us two kilos of rice that tasted foul and two cans of sardines. When we got there, they left us. Where were we supposed to get our food)?” he asked.
Like Rivera, Arcilla expressed his disappointment at the Vice President for his alleged failure to provide them a better life.
“Hindi naman natupad yung ‘pangako nila e (He never fulfilled his promises),” he said.
Arcilla recalled that when the Vice President visited them once at the Makati Homeville, they asked Binay about his promise to provide them shelter .
“Sabi nya, ‘ano kayo? Binigyan na kayo ng lupa gusto n’yo pa ng bahay’ (He told us, ‘I already gave you land, yet you still want me to give you a house’)?” the resident said, quoting the Vice President. IDL
