Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday filed another libel suit against his chief accuser former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, the third criminal complaint he had lodged over the latter’s series of supposed expose.
The nine-page complaint filed at the Makati Prosecutor’s Office on Friday sought to prove that Mercado was “lying when he maliciously, falsely and feloniously accused the Vice President of extorting condo units from developers amounting to 60-70 percent of all the condo buildings in Makati,” Binay’s legal counsel Claro Certeza said in a statement.
“This claim has been publicly belied by the developers themselves. It only shows that Mercado is a pathological liar and has zero credibility,” he said.
SM Development Corp., Megaworld Corp., Robinsons Land Corp., Rockwell Land Corp., and Eton Properties released separate statements denying they gave condo units to Binay or his family.
The former vice mayor during a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearing in November 2014 told senators that Binay owns various condominium units under the name of individuals whom he had used as dummies.
READ: Binay camp: Mercado ‘real owner’ of condominium unit
In the Vice President’s complaint-affidavit, he claimed that Ariel Olivar—whom Mercado accused of being Binay’s dummy for his alleged unit in The Peak Tower—admitted that he received his instructions from Mercado himself.
Olivar, an engineer, said during a Senate hearing on January 22 that he was asked by Mercado to use his name as the owner of a 150-square meter unit in The Peak condominium in Makati allegedly owned by Binay.
He admitted that he never met Binay and it was Mercado who gave him the instruction.
“The series of libel complaints filed by the Vice President shows his commitment to answer and refute the accusations against him in the proper forum in accordance with the rule of law,” Certeza said.
READ: DOJ to probe Mercado partner’s death if asked by victim’s family
The Binay’s camp said the unit under Olivar’s name is the same as the unit where Mercado’s former live-in partner, Racquel Ambrosio, was found dead in 2002. Niña P. Calleja/RAM