The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay lashed out at the Ombudsman after it filed graft and falsification of public document charges against his son Junjun Binay before the Sandiganbayan on Friday.
In a statement, Binay’s spokesperson Rico Quicho said the Ombudsman had proven itself part of the “demolition by perception” waged by Liberal Party (LP) against the opposition standard-bearer.
“The filing of the case against Mayor Junjun Binay before the Sandiganbayan is simply a procedural consequence of the erroneous and biased resolutions of the Ombudsman,” Quicho said.
Quicho said the Ombudsman had spared allies of the administration from charges, citing the allegations of sacked Metro Rail Transit General Manager Al Vitangcol that he had been indicted for graft over the train system’s maintenance contract while Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya was not.
Abaya is the acting LP president.
Vitangcol said the Ombudsman spared Abaya even though the latter signed the notice of award of contract.
‘Bias, partiality beyond dispute’
“The bias and partiality of the Ombudsman is beyond dispute. It has played loose with the law and the Constitution in persecuting the Vice President and his family and those in the opposition,” Quicho said.
“On the other hand, the revelations made by former MRT General Manager Vitangcol the other day exposes the Ombudsman’s predisposition to look the other way when administration and LP personalities, in this case no less than Mr. Mar Roxas, are involved,” he added.
Mar Roxas is the standard-bearer of Liberal Party.
Quicho said the Ombudsman had timed the indictment against Binay during the election period.
He said the Ombudsman first indicted the Binays when the Vice President filed his certificate of candidacy for president in October last year.
It then denied their motions for reconsideration and affirmed the filing of charges when the Vice President retained the top spot in the recent Social Weather Stations survey and days before the start of the campaign period.
“It is obvious by now that the release of the Ombudsman orders follows a pattern—from the time the Vice President filed his certificate of candicacy up until the release of the recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey where the Vice President retained the top slot in presidential preference,” Quicho said.
“These are politically calculated moves which are part of the demolition by perception efforts being waged by the Liberal Party against the Vice President,” he added.
Firm resolve to help poor
Quicho said the Ombudsman had been biased from the start, but the graft indictment against the Binays and formal filing of charges against the son would not deter the Vice President’s resolve to continue his campaign promise of helping the poor.
“No amount of political persecution and harassment will stop the Vice President from pushing his propoor agenda. He is not new to political harassment. The Vice President has stood up against oppression, tyranny, and poverty—from the time he was an activist and human rights lawyer during martial law and until today as presidential candidate of [United Nationalist Alliance]. The fight for the poor continues,” Quicho said.
On Friday, the Office of the Special Prosecutor filed two counts of graft and six counts of falsification of public documents against the younger Binay for his involvement in the alleged rigging for the design and construction of the P2.2 billion Makati City Hall Building II, deemed the country’s priciest building.
The Ombudsman prosecution did not include in the charge sheet the Vice President, who was earlier indicted with his son.
Because of the Vice President’s immunity from suit, the Ombudsman said it would file the charges after the end of his term.
In indicting the Binays, the Ombudsman said the Vice President and his son approved the bids and awards committee resolutions, notices of awards, contracts and payments using unnumbered/undated disbursement vouchers and obligation requests despite the anomalies.
Rigged bidding
The Binays awarded the procurement of the design to Mana Architectural and Interior Design (Mana) despite lack of public bidding, the Ombudsman said.
They also allegedly rigged the bidding to favor Mana and approved the release of P11.97 million payment to the firm despite the anomalies.
The bids and awards committee also completed the procurement process for the building with undue haste or in only 11 days.
The procurement for the construction, meanwhile, was awarded to Hilmarc’s Construction despite lack of invitations to bid. Hilmarc’s was the lone bidder in four phases of the project.
The construction began despite the absence of approved design standards, contract plans, agency cost estimates, detailed engineering and programs of work.
The Ombudsman also noted collusion among city officials and Hilmarc’s to rig the public biddings.
The younger Binay had also been ordered dismissed and perpetually barred from public office over the administrative offenses of misconduct and dishonesty in connection with the anomalies surrounding the Makati car park building. RC
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