The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Saturday criticized Sen. Grace Poe’s signing of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee partial report recommending plunder and graft charges against him, dismissing the report as “highly partisan.”
In a statement, vice presidential spokesperson for political concerns Rico Quicho said Poe’s nod to the report, which the senator described as “unrebutted by competent evidence,” did not extinguish the Senate investigation of being “open-ended and one-sided.”
“Senator Poe’s assent to the committee report does not extinguish the pattern of lies and web of deceits orchestrated by the political detractors of the Vice President, who are fueled by their political ambitions,” Quicho said.
In a text message to reporters on Friday, Poe confirmed that she indeed signed the report: “I have read the subcommittee recommendation and found the same supported by documentary evidence as well as expert and personal testimonies that remain unrebutted by (a) competent evidence to the contrary.”
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“A reasonable and independent mind would make a conclusion only after a fair and impartial appreciation of the allegations, which should be based on evidence and not merely relying on surmises and illegally procured ‘evidence,’” Quicho said.
The Binay lawyer said Poe should instead address what he called special attention that the Senate had been supposedly giving to the cases involving Binay.
“The different treatment by the Senate of administration allies facing highly anomalous situation and that of the Vice President and the opposition highlights a glaring deviation from fairness and justice,” he said. “Such is deplorable and unacceptable behavior which Senator Poe has to address.”
Quicho maintained that the ongoing Senate hearings on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II were “designed” to sabotage Binay’s presidential bid in 2016.
He added that the ruling Liberal Party would “run rough shod over anyone who dares to stand in the way of their mad desire to prolong their hold on power.” RC