Binay son slams ‘perfect timing’

VICE PRESIDENT Jejomar Binay (right) and his son Junjun Binay MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Dismissed Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay on Wednesday hit what he said was the “perfect timing” of the release by the Commission on Audit (COA) of its special audit report on the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II to the Office of the Ombudsman.

The former mayor said the release of the COA special audit report came at a time when pre-election presidential surveys were being conducted.

“The timing is suspect again,” the younger Binay said in Iba, Zambales province, where his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, was campaigning with his United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) slate.

He pointed out that the pre-election presidential surveys were now running and in two weeks’ time, the Commission on Elections would hold its second presidential debate in Cebu. “It’s perfect timing,” he said.

The Vice President’s staff declined to comment on the Inquirer story detailing the findings of the COA special audit because it did not have a copy of the report itself.

“Hard to comment when we haven’t seen a copy of the report,” said Joey Salgado, communications director of Binay’s campaign.

Salgado insisted anew UNA president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco’s statement last weekend that it was Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales “who personally called a ranking COA official and pressured said official to release the report even if it did not include comments of Mayor Binay and other city officials, which is required under COA rules and part of due process.”

“Ombudsman Morales is godmother to the COA chair and she reportedly invoked the said personal ties,” Salgado added.

In Zambales, former Mayor Binay told reporters he was not only questioning the timing of the release of the COA report but also the lack of due process involved here.

“For due process to be observed, if you are an accused, you should be given the chance to explain,” he said. The younger Binay said there was a bid to rush the COA issue.

He said his family had always asked for fairness because these charges would be answered.

Junjun Binay said the way the investigation was being done was “highly questionable” as he pointed out this issue arose as his father was running for President.

The former mayor said the issuance of a hold departure order (HDO) on him, announced Wednesday, was part of the process because he had posted bail on the Sandiganbayan case against him in relation to the alleged overpriced Makati City parking building.

Because of the HDO, he said he needed to ask authorities to allow him to leave the country to go abroad.

Anyway, the younger Binay said he had no plans to leave the country. “We have said that we will submit ourselves to the competent court and this included the processes here.”