Binay lawyers block Mercado’s testimony vs VP’s wife

Elenita Binay (left) is accompanied by several women in this undated file photo . INQUIRER.NET

Lawyers of former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay have blocked former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado from testifying in Thursday’s hearing at the Sandiganbayan on the alleged overprice of Makati City Hall furnishings while she was mayor in 1999.

Binay’s lawyer, Sandra Marie Olaso-Coronel, protested that Mercado was not on the prosecution’s pre-trial list of witnesses.

Mercado, who is also testifying against Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay before the Senate on alleged irregularities in Makati City, may be able to testify in the next hearing at the Fifth Division of the antigraft court.

Prosecutor Omar Sagadal said the panel would file a motion to present Mercado as the next witness.

Jejomar and Elenita are husband and wife.

The graft case against Binay stemmed from the alleged P21.536 million overprice of the P72-million contract for panel fabric partitions and connector brackets for city hall.

She is accused of bypassing bidding procedures to favor bidder Office Sales International, to the disadvantage of government.

The case is the result of audit findings led by Commission on Audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza who said the bidding for the contract was rigged.

The court set the next hearing on June 18.