Some P2 billion “kickbacks” allegedly went to Vice President Jejomar Binay over the last 10 years from the contracts of janitorial, security and IT services in Makati City, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Wednesday.
Trillanes placed the estimate after hearing the testimonies of resource persons during the ongoing investigation of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee on corruption allegations against Binay, longtime mayor of Makati City before he became vice president in 2010.
Engineer Mario Hechanova, former head of the General Services Department of Makati City, claimed that the city government allegedly spent a total of P1.26 billon for “ghost” security guards and janitors alone for the past 10 years.
“To sum it up all, ang grand total pong nakuha dyan for 10 years is P648 for the janitorial, P612 million for the security totaling to P1.26 billion,” Hechanova said, responding to queries of Trillanes.
But the senator pointed out that total amount did not include yet the more than P700 million estimated kickbacks from the IT services.
“Yan ‘yung sa dalawa tapos ‘yung kanina n’ya na P700 plus million so aabot sya ng P2 billion d’yan sa period na yan?” he said.
Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NINO JESUS ORBETA
“Dito sa P5 billion peso contracts lahat, P2 billion dito easily napunta dito sa mga pamilya ng Binay or the Vice President in particular,” Trillanes said.
The senator was referring to the total P5.6 billion contracts for IT, janitorial and security services of Makati City from 2005 to 2014, which has been the the subject of a review by the services department being headed by its officer-in-charge, Violeta Lazo.
Lazo said the P5.6 billion was broken down into P926.433 million for IT services, P2.3 billion for janitorial services and another P2.380 for security services.
Among the initial findings of the review, she said, showed the following red flags: The same companies cornered all three services of the city government for the last 10 or 12 years; About 92 percent of the contracts went to only one or three companies, the owners of the winning contractors were the same, and that there was “conspiracy” in the bidding for security services.
Lazo said they also noticed that a compny, the Omni Security Investigation Incorporated, had prior knowledge of the bidding for janitorial services even an invitation to bid was not yet published.
“Nagkaroon ng corporate meeting ang Omni noong October 17, 2013 tungkol sa pagsali sa bidding para sa janitorial services ng East Rembo Multi-Purpose Hall and Cembo Health Center but as we go on sa aming review, ang pag publish ng invitation to bid ay lumabas lamang noong November 2013,” she told the committee.
Last week, Trillanes also accused Binay of gaining kickbacks from “ghost” senior citizen beneficiaries in Makati. Maila Ager/IDL
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