Mrs. Binay bucks bid of coaccused to rat on her

The wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay has asked the Sandiganbayan to ward off the attempt of state prosecutors to turn one of her coaccused into a state witness in the P72-million graft case filed against her when she was still the mayor of Makati City.

In an opposition which her lawyers filed on Tuesday, Dr. Elenita Binay told the antigraft court’s Fifth Division that there was no need to drop Ernesto Aspillaga as respondent in the criminal case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged rigging in the purchase of office fixtures and furniture for the City Hall in 1999.

Binay also turned the tables on Aspillaga, claiming the former head of the Makati City Hall general services office was the “most guilty” among those charged over the purported anomalous contract.

She stressed that the prosecution’s move to utilize Aspillaga as state witness did not meet the requirements mandated by the Rules of Court such as proving the “absolute necessity for the testimony of the accused whose discharge is requested.”

“There is no absolute necessity for the discharge of accused (Aspillaga)… (His) proposed testimony… cannot be substantially corroborated in its material points,” Binay said in her 20-page petition.

She also asked the court to dismiss the case against her, saying the prosecution had “miserably failed to discharge its burden of proving the guilt of all of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”