Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado on Saturday said he would surrender his ill-gotten wealth, and dared Vice President Jejomar Binay to do the same.
In an interview with the Inquirer, Mercado disclosed that Binay gave him P80 million from 2007 to 2009 to finance his campaign for mayor of Makati City in the 2010 elections.
“The money was spent when I ran for mayor in 2010, but I am willing to return the money or its equivalent in property plus my share of the kickbacks from the construction of [Makati City Hall Building II]. I challenge Binay to do the same,” Mercado said.
He said he received the money through former Makati city engineer Nelson Morales, who was shot dead by a still-unknown assailant in Albay province in 2012.
Mercado and other witnesses identified Morales in a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee inquiry into charges of corruption against Binay and his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay, as the “custodian” of kickbacks from overpriced infrastructure projects in Makati during the Vice President’s tenure as mayor of the city.
‘Binays should give up P16B’
Mercado said the Binays and their associates and dummies should surrender P16 billion in bank deposits discovered by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and ordered frozen by the Court of Appeals.
“The Binays received kickbacks not only from infrastructure projects but also from garbage collection contracts, ghost employees and local taxes and permits,” Mercado said, explaining the size of the deposits discovered by the AMLC.
There was no immediate comment from the Vice President’s camp yesterday.
The Binays have denied the accusations, which are being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman.
He said that apart from the P80 million in campaign funds, he also received a fraction of kickbacks from city infrastructure projects while he was vice mayor of Makati.
In his testimony in the Senate, Mercado disclosed that elected officials of Makati received as kickbacks 28 percent of the cost of city infrastructure projects.
6% of 28%
He said 6 percent of the 28 percent was divided among 20 elected city officials, including him.
Mercado served as city councilor from 1992 to 1998. He served as vice mayor from 2001 to 2010.
“As vice mayor, I was one of the 20 elected officials who shared 6 percent of the kickbacks, while 13 percent was allocated for Binay,” he said.
Mercado, however, did not say how much he received in kickbacks during his terms as city councilor and as vice mayor.
He said he had a falling out with Binay in the last quarter of 2009, when Binay refused to endorse his mayoral candidacy and instead fielded his son in the 2010 mayoral election in Makati.
But he said that he could explain the sources of the money that went to his bank accounts that were discovered by the AMLC and ordered frozen by the Court of Appeals.
“I can justify the sources of my income, particularly after I retired from politics. The money in my bank accounts after I became a private citizen all came from legitimate sources,” Mercado said.
“Apart from my legitimate businesses, I also win in cockfights,” he added
One account not his
Mercado said he was not contesting the freeze order for his bank accounts. He said, however, that one of the frozen accounts was not his and should be unfrozen by the Court of Appeals.
The bank account was discovered in the Philippine National Bank branch on San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City. It contained P507,024 in deposit.
“It’s not mine. It belongs to one Ernesto S. Mercado with a different middle name. It’s just fair that it should be unfrozen,” he said.
Mercado’s middle name is Salvador. He did not say what the “S” in the other Mercado’s middle name was.
Mercado said many of the bank accounts in his name that appeared on the list submitted by the AMLC to the Court of Appeals were no longer active.
“Many of the accounts had been closed for years and one is dormant,” he said.
The AMLC said in its report to the Court of Appeals that the transactions reflected in Mercado’s bank accounts were “not commensurate to his declared income.”
It said the frequency and volume of the transactions “suggest sources of funds other than [Mercado’s] declared salary and businesses.”
Those transactions, the AMLC said, “indicates the veracity of [Mercado’s] admission that he profited from the subject building projects.”
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