Binay family’s counsel JV Bautista (center) and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s spokesman Joey Salgado (standing, right) are in a huddle before a Senate hearing on the allegedly overpriced Makati parking building II on Jan. 29, 2015, with Rep. Abby Binay, lawyer Claro Certeza and (sitting) lawyer Dodo Sarmiento and former Senators Joker Arroyo and Rene Saguisag. Binay’s camp on Tuesday, May 12, said the Liberal Party had a copy of the report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on his bank accounts, expressing fears it might use the report to further destroy him. INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday said the Liberal Party (LP) had a copy of the report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on his bank accounts, expressing fears it might use the report to further destroy him.
Binay’s spokesman, Joey Salgado, said key LP leaders had gotten hold of the AMLC report as early as last month.
“We can expect the LP and their allies to misrepresent the Vice President’s bank accounts, which are all reflected and reported in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) and statement of election expenses,” Salgado said in a statement.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, the LP vice chair, said the party had no access to the AMLC report.
“It’s the first time I’m hearing it,” Drilon told the Inquirer. “There is absolutely no basis to it.”
Salgado could not confirm a report that the Court of Appeals would issue a freeze order on Binay’s bank accounts, saying this was confidential.
“Court proceedings of this nature are deemed highly confidential and any party who discloses it is subject to contempt,” he said.
Salgado said the LP had its “fingerprints all over the AMLC probe.”
“This is apparently part of their game plan,” he said. “The Liberal Party has been obsessed with attacking the Vice President. The LP has been aggressively harnessing government resources and agencies against the Vice President and his family ever since he declared his intention to run for President in 2016. The AMLC is apparently one of these agencies.”
He said he would not be surprised if the report had been leaked to the media by Binay’s opponents.
“This is after all a perception game that they are playing. Their intention is to taint the good name of Vice President Binay,” he said.
“What is unfortunate is that the intent of the AMLC Act has been subverted by politics. The act was signed into law to prevent the use of the Philippines as a haven for laundering money for drugs, terrorism and unlawful acts. Today, it is a tool to harass and taint the reputation of political enemies of the LP,” he said.
Salgado said Binay was ready to face this latest issue. He said the documents would prove the AMLC report was “baseless.”
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