Plunder raps piling up against Binay

Vice President Jejomar Binay INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

THE PLUNDER complaints are piling up against would-be presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay, with a former ally filing a fifth one at the Office of the Ombudsman over an allegedly anomalous deal between the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) and the Alphaland property developer.

Former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, the whistleblower in the Senate investigation into Binay’s alleged corruption, filed charges against Binay as BSP national president and 16 other BSP board members and officers, accusing them of approving a disadvantageous property sale to Alphaland in 2011.

In his complaint, Mercado claimed that the P600-million selling price of the BSP’s share in a one-hectare prime property in Malugay Street, Makati, to Alphaland was grossly undervalued.

The sale followed a joint venture agreement that the BSP entered into with Alphaland in 2008.

“Binay dictates what he wants at the BSP. His corespondents follow his every whim,” said Mercado, who was BSP senior vice president when the joint venture was made.

Mercado showed up at the Ombudsman’s office Tuesday for the filing with other BSP officers wearing the Boy Scout uniform. They were joined by lawyer Renato Bondal, a losing Makati mayoral candidate who earlier filed four plunder complaints against Binay.

Bondal accused Binay of plunder in connection with the construction of the Makati City Hall parking building, the Makati Science High School building and the University of Makati College of Nursing building and a property conversion in Makati City.

The property deal between the BSP and Alphaland, which is owned by businessman Roberto Ongpin, was one of the allegedly corrupt Binay deals that were unearthed during the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigation.

Mercado said the joint venture agreement made in 2008 to develop the Malugay property provided for an 85-15 percent sharing scheme in favor of Alphaland.

At the time, he said, the property was valued at P1 billion based on an appraisal made in 2005.

He said in 2011, the BSP national executive board sold the rights to the property to Alphaland for P600 million, or 60 per cent of the P1 billion appraisal.

Mercado said the property was grossly undervalued since the property was valued at at least P3 billion as of 2010.

“Respondents have not protected the interests of BSP and have put it in a position much worse than when it was under the joint venture agreement,” he said.

“The sale was made for no legitimate purpose than to accommodate the AMPI (Alphaland Makati Place Inc.),” Mercado added.

Mercado said he will file another plunder complaint about the kickbacks Binay allegedly received in connection with the Alphaland deal.

Mercado told reporters he will not be running in next year’s elections.

“I don’t want to run anymore. I don’t want people to say that I’m speaking up because I’m politicking,” he said.

He said he has yet to choose who to vote for among those who have declared their intention to run for President and Vice President.

But if Binay should win, “I will flee the country and ask for asylum in Switzerland,” he said.

Reacting to the filing of the complaint, Binay’s political spokesperson Rico Quicho said it should be Mercado and not Binay who should be charged in the Alphaland land deal.

Quicho said it was clear during the Senate hearing that Mercado was the one who negotiated the land deal and asked for a personal benefit as alleged by Alphaland officer and lawyer Mario Oreta.

But he said the Binay camp was not expecting Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to be fair because of her actions on the other complaints against Binay.

“The officers of BSP and Alphaland have categorically denied the participation of the Vice President in the transaction,” he also said. With Tarra Quismundo and Christine Avendaño