Palace won’t sack Binay

By: Christian V. Esguerra - 10 years ago

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte. FILE PHOTO

Malacañang will not force Vice President Jejomar Binay to leave the Cabinet despite the release of an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report that bolsters charges of corruption against him, the Palace said on Saturday.

But if he wants to go to spare the administration embarrassment or because he believes the Palace is behind the release of the damning report, he most certainly can.

“That’s a decision that is left up to him,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Binay is a member of the Cabinet, overseeing the government’s housing programs as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. He also advises the President on Filipino migrant workers’ affairs.

‘Not us’

Valte denied that the Palace is behind the release of the AMLC report, which served as the basis of a Court of Appeals (CA) order to freeze 242 bank accounts belonging to Binay, his family and alleged dummies.

“We have nothing to do with the AMLC report and we certainly have not used it for the ends of the administration other than, of course, the mandate of the AMLC itself,” she said.

Binay said on Friday that he would not back out of next year’s presidential election despite the corruption charges against him.

He has repeatedly denied the allegations, claiming they are intended to take him out of the presidential race.

The AMLC found out that he maintained 18 bank accounts during the period of the council’s investigation from 2008 to 2014. Binay said he had only five.

A table of transactions prepared by the AMLC showed Binay’s individual accounts received nearly P100 million in just four days in March 2010.

The AMLC report was submitted to the CA in connection with the Ombudsman’s investigation into alleged irregularities in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II and the Makati Science High School during Binay’s tenure as the city’s mayor.

The second city hall building was allegedly overpriced by P1.3 billion.

President Aquino, who was elected on an anticorruption platform in 2010, has spoken little about the corruption charges against Binay, who is a family friend.

‘Team player’

In November last year, Mr. Aquino said Binay was “free to leave” the Cabinet, after the Vice President went around attacking the administration over the Senate inquiry into the allegations against him.

“If he thinks we are going in the wrong direction, he’s free to leave,” Mr. Aquino said.

But Binay, who heads the opposition United Nationalist Alliance, chose to stay on, saying: “I have the highest respect for President Aquino and I will continue to be a team player.”