Binay denies Pag-IBIG granted loans to favored developers

VICE President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday denied Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s allegation that Pag-IBIG Fund has granted loans to developers associated with Binay.

Binay heads the Pag-IBIG Fund’s board of trustees in his capacity as concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

“We have stringent accreditation parameters so we should be measured against them. All loans that have been approved are either fully paid or current and updated,” he said in a statement.

During Monday’s hearing of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee, Trillanes alleged that Pag-Ibig Fund granted loans to at least four developers identified with the Vice President.

The four were Prosperidad Real Estate Development Inc., which was granted P40 million loan by the housing agency; Major Homes Inc., which got P20 million loan; Bumbaran Development Corporation with P14 million loan, and Astra Realty Corporation with P60 million loan.

READ: Trillanes ‘links’ 4 Pag-Ibig loans to firms owned by Binay’s friends

But Binay said, “The total loans of all four developers Senator Trillanes mentioned are also very low, less than 10 percent of the total P1.4 billion loaned in the last four years.”

“If it is true they were favored, why was the total amount given to them very low? Also, the four have been into real estate development since the early 2000s, way before my time as Chairman of Pag-IBIG,” he added.

The Vice President slammed Trillanes’ “patented template of lies, insinuations, and half-truths.” It was the senator, who initiated the Senate probe on corruption allegations against Binay and his family.

“They invent lies and make insinuations about a particular issue. And once they are caught with their lies, they move on to another issues,” Binay said.

“This has been the pattern in the past 20 hearings. They jump from one issue to another because of the simple reason that they cannot substantiate any of their allegations,” he added.

The Vice President also slammed Trillanes for allegedly using his position to   “bully and intimidate” people for personal gain.

Binay noted the senator’s “rude” treatment of Darlene Marie Berberabe, chief executive officer and president of Pag-IBIG Fund, during Monday’s hearing of the subcommittee.

“His conduct is unbecoming of a senator of the republic. His demeanor is becoming more and more offensive with every hearing,” he said.

The Vice President said he recommended Berberabe to President Benigno Aquino III because of the latter’s “competence and integrity.”

Instead of displaying his “messianic tendencies, Binay’s spokesman for political concerns, Rico Quicho, said Trillanes should start accounting for his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) releases.

READ: Nancy Binay dares Trillanes to explain his P245-M DAP allocation

“Anyone who would bother to cross-reference the DAP data in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website with the list provided by Senator Trillanes in his personal website would immediately see that the senator only accounted for P50 million of his P245 million DAP funds,” Quicho said in the same statement.

He said records from DBM showed that Trillanes was allocated P244,086,250 for 131 projects he endorsed under the DAP. The funds, he said, were released in three tranches: December 2011, October 2012, and February 2013.

But Quicho said the senator’s website only lists 39 projects totaling P50 million, all from the second tranche of special allotment release orders (SAROs) from the DBM.

Of the 39 projects, four were indicated by Trillanes as “not implemented because of the SC (Supreme Court) decision on PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Program),” the spokesman said.

Quicho said the four projects, amounting to P1 million each, were charged against SAROs released on Oct. 12, 2012 by the DBM.

He said among the four projects was the construction/repair/rehabilitation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Main Library, requested by the AFP Office of the Strategic and Special Studies, General Headquarters. DBM records show the funds were released to the Quezon City II District Engineering Office (DEO).

Other projects include the construction/repair/rehabilitation of the Film Center/Theater of Iloilo City and Zamboanga City, whose funds were released to the DEOs of the respective cities.

Quicho said the fourth project was the construction/repair/rehabilitation of the Convention Center cum Hotel and Sea Water Park in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro. AC