Elenita Binay moves to block Mercado testimony

Former Makati City Mayor Elenita Binay FILE PHOTO

Former Makati City Mayor Dr. Elenita Binay, wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay, on Thursday moved to block an attempt by state prosecutors to present former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado as a witness against her in the Sandiganbayan antigraft court.

In an opposition her lawyers filed in the Sandigan’s Fifth Division, Dr. Binay said the reasons raised by the Ombudsman prosecutors in their request to allow Mercado to testify were “unavailing.”

She said the prosecution also failed to show “good cause” in presenting new evidence not mentioned during the pretrial conference.

Binay, 70, is on trial for the alleged overprice in the purchase of P72-million worth of office panel partitions for the Makati City Hall when she was mayor of the city in 1999.

Citing a previous ruling of the Supreme Court, Binay argued that no new evidence should be submitted during the trial proper “other than those identified and marked during the pretrial, except when allowed by the court for good cause shown.”

“A perusal of the prosecution’s motion reveals that the prosecution failed to provide adequate reasons, and a particular and specific demonstration of facts that will establish a good cause,” Binay said in her petition.

If the court lets the prosecution present Mercado on the witness stand, she said the rules approved by the Supreme Court on the presentation of new evidence would be “futile.”

“Worse, such admission of the prosecution demonstrates the alarming fact that the prosecution is not at all certain of the merits of the case they are prosecuting,” Binay said.

She said the prosecution “should have known all of their potential witnesses and documents during pretrial.”

In its petition, the prosecution said Mercado would testify on the authenticity of the original copy of the Commission on Audit (COA) report on the Makati City government’s financial transactions in 1999.

It filed its petition after COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza testified that Mercado, the Binay family’s ally-turned-accuser, came to her office in August last year and handed her the original copy of the audit report.

Mendoza said that Mercado, who has accused the Vice President and members of his family of being behind anomalous projects in Makati, told her that he was able to get hold of the report when he was vice mayor.

Mercado surrendered the copy of the COA report after learning that the case against Dr. Binay might be dismissed because the prosecution could not produce the original copy of the document, Mendoza said.

“Per existing guidelines, a party may be allowed to present a witness who is not listed in the pretrial order for good cause shown,” the prosecution said.