Ombudsman denies leaking COA report against Binay

CAMPAIGNING IN OLONGAPO Vice President Jejomar Binay woos voters in Olongapo City on Tuesday night. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

THE Office of the Ombudsman has denied that it leaked the Commission on Audit (COA) report to the media to shame Vice President Jejomar Binay.

On Thursday, Atty. Rawnsle Lopez, acting director of the Ombudsman Public Information and Media Relations Bureau, said in a text message that the Ombudsman has yet to receive a copy of the report.

“As of the moment, the office is still waiting for the transmittal of the COA report. The office will thoroughly study the COA findings before issuing any further statement,” Lopez said.

In a statement, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) President Toby Tiangco accused the Ombudsman of hiring a public relations consultant to leak to the media the audit report that found anomalies in the design and construction of the Makati City Hall Building II when the vice president and his son were Makati mayor.

Tiangco also accused the COA of the same bias as the Ombudsman in besmirching the image of the vice president to derail his presidential bid.

“We have received information that a PR consultant working for the Ombudsman provided copies of the COA report to select reporters. To this we ask why, if the case against us is strong, would there be any need for underhanded tactics?” Tiangco said.

Asked to react on Tiangco’s claims, Lopez said: “No such report was released.”

The Ombudsman and Binay’s camp had traded barbs after UNA accused the Ombudsman of pressuring the COA to release the audit report on the Makati car park building to drag down the name of the vice president at the height of the elections.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman had lashed back that Binay pleaded to a COA official to delay the release of the report until after the May 9 elections.

The Inquirer reported Thursday that the COA finished its final special audit report on the P2.8 billion Makati car park building, which started construction when Vice President Binay was Makati mayor and continued to the term of his son Junjun.

The report said the procurement was rigged to award the contract to favored contractors despite deficiencies in required documents, and that the contract price was “bloated” to the disadvantage of government.

The auditors found the Vice President administratively liable for grave misconduct, dishonesty and gross inexcusable negligence, graft and corrupt practices, and thus recommend to penalize Binay with removal from office, fines and imprisonment.

The vice president’s son had been charged with graft and falsification of public documents for the alleged anomaly, while Binay, a leading presidential candidate, would be charged when his immunity expires at the end of his term.

Binay had filed a P200-million damage suit against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and the Philippine Daily Inquirer before the Makati Regional Trial Court.