CONTRARY to allegations, Vice President Jejomar Binay did not receive any shares or profits from a company created to set up the Institute of Nursing in the University of Makati (UMak), a spokesman said on Tuesday.
Rico Quicho, Binay’s spokesperson for political concerns, said the Vice President held only “one qualifying share” in the Philippine Healthcare Educators Inc. (PHEI) “for the sole purpose of representing the City of Makati in the board of directors of the said company.”
Rico Paolo Quicho. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
“Contrary to the claims made by Senator Trillanes in the record-breaking blue ribbon subcomittee hearing, no Makati-official member of the UMak board in a regular or ex-officio capacity – including Vice President Jejomar C. Binay – received dividends or shares of profits at any given time,” Quicho said in a statement.
He was referring to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who claimed in an interview with Senate reporters Monday that Binay was benefitting from the College of Nursing in UMak as one of its shareholders. Lawyer Renato Bondal repeated this allegation at the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee on Tuesday.
READ: Trillanes: Blue ribbon to probe alleged Makati school anomaly involving VP Binay
But Binay’s spokesman said the Vice President merely represented the Makati City government when it entered into a joint-venture agreement (JVA) with the Systems Technology Institute (STI) in 2003 to set up the Institute of Nursing in the university.
“He (Binay) never held any business interests therein in his own capacity,” Quicho said.
“Once again, these latest so-called revelations of Senator Trillanes shows that these hearings have clearly evolved into a witch hunt in order to bolster the ambitions of presidential aspirants sorely lagging behind in the surveys,” he further said.
During the hearing of the subcommittee, Bondal said Binay used the nephew of former Senator Joker Arroyo, Dr. Jack Arroyo, as “dummy” in the company supposedly to get 20 shares from the company. Bondal said UMak and STI received 40 shares each from the PHEI while the remaining 20 percent went to Jack Arroyo, who he said was neither part of UMak nor the STI.
READ: Binay used ex-senator Joker Arroyo’s nephew as dummy—Bondal
But Quicho again disputed the allegations.
“Bondal is alleging that Dr. Jack Arroyo, nephew of former Sen. Joker Arroyo, is the Vice President’s dummy in the project. But as expected and as usual, Bondal has no evidence to prove his claim other than his ‘hula (presumption),’” he said.
“Bondal, former vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, and their cohorts have been given a license by Senator Trillanes and his companions to malign the names of private individuals without so much as offering a shred of evidence to prove their allegations,” the spokesman added.
Quicho explained that the 40 percent shares in the company went to UMak while the 60 percent shares went to STI and Jack Arroyo as then president of the American Eye Clinic.
He said UMak provides base facilities and non-nursing faculty, while STI and Dr. Jack Arroyo provide “related learning experience, on-the-job training and placement, and the equity for the building of nursing school specific facilities and equipment.”
“Once again, records belie the malicious claims of Trillanes. The Senate hearings have so far produced nothing but totally unsubstantiated claims against the Vice President,” said the spokesman.
“It’s a good thing Senator Trillanes was never in the AFP’s Explosives and Ordnance Division otherwise he would have been an embarrassment to the unit because all of the bombs he produced in the Senate hearings turned out to be duds,” he added.
Quicho also belittled Bondal’s claim that the UMak nursing building was overpriced.
“As we have expected, this is another fantastic tale without any factual basis from the same person who admitted his outlandish claim of overpriced birthday cakes were simply guesswork or ‘hula,’’ the spokesman added. AC
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