Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER file photo
(2nd Update)
TEN senators or more than the majority of the 17-member Senate blue ribbon committee have signed a draft report that recommended the filing of plunder raps against Vice President Jejomar Binay and other personalities involved in the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall 2 parking building.
The ten are:
-Miriam Defensor-Santiago
-Francis Escudero
-Pia Cayetano
-Serge Osmena III
-Teofisto Guingona III
-Bam Aquino
-Grace Poe
-Alan Cayetano
-Antonio Trillanes IV; and
-Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that came out with the draft report
The latest signatories were Defensor-Santiago, Escudero, Osmeña, Pia Cayetano, Aquino, and Guingona, chairman of the mother committee while Poe, Alan Cayetano, Trillanes, and Pimentel III affixed their signatures last week.
READ: Poe signs report vs Binay
The other members of Guingona’s committee are Senators Cynthia Villar, Loren Legarda, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Lito Lapid, Gregorio Honasan, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Binay’s daughter, Nancy Binay.
The two other ex-officio members of the committee aside from Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano are Senate Pro Tempore Ralph Rector and detained Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
Pimentel earlier said the draft report needs to get at least nine signatures, or the majority number of the 17-man committee before it becomes official and can be transmitted to the plenary either for approval or rejection.
Escudero cited two reasons why he signed the draft report:
“First, the evidence cited by the committee is to my mind, sufficient to justify the recommendation to file the cases mentioned,” he said.
“And second, in order to afford the named persons the opportunity to answer the allegations against them in their chosen forum, the courts, since they refuse to participate in the Senate and have been saying that they will answer in the proper forum,” he further said.
READ: Why is Binay afraid of Senate probe?
Escudero campaigned for Binay in the 2010 vice presidential race but the two had a falling out after the senator chose to run under the Liberal Party-led coalition during the 2013 senatorial race.
Guingona said he signed the draft report because he saw basis that the parking building was overpriced.
“There’s basis for further investigation,” he told reporters.
On his part, Senator Aquino said he signed the draft report, “because the findings that the Makati City Hall II Parking Building was overpriced and that its surrounding bidding process was irregular were largely unrefuted and unanswered.
“These findings warrant that the appropriate government agency further investigates the matter and file the corresponding charges, as it deems proper,” he said in a statement.
Apart from the Vice President, the draft report also recommends the filing of plunder charges against his son, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay and other personalities who allegedly conspired to jack up the cost of the parking building. The Binays have repeatedly denied the allegations.
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