Less than 4 months before polls, Senate resumes Binay probe

Vice President Jejomar Binay. FILE PHOTO

The Senate blue ribbon subcommittee resumed on Tuesday its investigation on corruption allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay, who recently regained the lead in the latest presidential surveys.

Among the resource persons invited in the hearing were Binay’s personal secretary, Eduviges “Ebeng” Baloloy, businessman Antonio “Tony” Tiu, Commission on Audit chairman Michael Aguinaldo, and officials of the Meriras Realty Development Corp. and Omni Security Investigation and General Services.

READ: Binay leads amid graft raps

Also invited were Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter Nancy Carvajal and Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Jose Balajadia Jr. among others.

It was Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who initiated the resumption of the hearing, which he said was originally scheduled in November last year.

READ: Trillanes seeks resumption of Binay corruption probe

Trillanes said new information about the alleged billions of pesos stashed away by Binay might be presented in the hearing.

He denied that the resumption of the proceeding had something to do with Binay’s recent resurgence to the top of candidate preference surveys despite the corruption allegations hurled at him in the previous hearings of the subcommittee. IDL