Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay on Sunday reiterated his challenge to his rivals in the presidential race to subject themselves to investigation by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and furnish a medical certificate showing them fit to run for the presidency.
Binay made the statement in a press conference at the Dagupan Village Hotel a few hours before the start of the last presidential debate here.
In the briefing, Binay said his rivals have yet to listen to his plea that they also sign a waiver allowing the AMLC to investigate their bank accounts for any money laundering activity.
Binay earlier signed a waiver allowing the AMLC to investigate his bank accounts. He has dared the other candidates to sign the same.
READ: Binay ‘urges’ rivals to submit to AMLC probe
He made the plea as the AMLC investigated Binay’s alleged joint accounts with his purported fronts to stash away billions in deposits.
“Kung wala tayong itinatago, kung lahat tayo ay naniniwala na dapat ihayag natin ang lahat sa ating mga kababayan, kung lahat tayo nagsasabi na pabor tayo sa freedom of information, pirmahan ninyo ang waiver. Magpa-AMLC din kayo,” Binay said.
(If we have nothing to hide, if we believe that our countrymen deserve to know the truth about us, if we are all in favor of the freedom of information, then sign the waiver. Let the AMLC probe you too.)
“Ngunit, hanggang ngayon, ni isa sa kanila ay walang pumipirma. Kaya ngayon, sa araw ng aming pagkikitang muli, muli ko ring inuulit ang aking hamon: pirmahan ninyo ang waiver nang magkaalaman kung sino talaga ang may tinatago sa taongbayan,” he added.
(But until now, none of them has signed the waiver. That is why, as we are set to meet again today, I am repeating my challenge: sign the waiver so that we will know who is hiding something to the people.)
According to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report quoting the bank findings, the AMLC said Binay stashed away billions of funds in joint accounts with alleged dummies—kickbacks which he purportedly earned from the supposedly overpriced Makati car park building, Makati Science High School building, and cakes for senior citizens to finance his 2010 vice presidential bid.
The AMLC earlier said Binay had 242 joint accounts with his alleged dummies which kept P11 billion since 2008.
READ: AMLC: Binay got billions
As reported by the Inquirer, the AMLC report said the subject accounts, especially those of Binay, and the joint accounts of Gerado Limlingan Jr., Sedillo Portollano and Eduviges Baloloy showed “multiple large transactions amounting to billions of pesos coinciding with the period of construction of the new Makati Parking Building II and the Makati Science High School, and the Joint Venture agreement with Boy Scouts.”
“They used a complicated and sophisticated system of layering funds, including the opening of multiple bank accounts under the names of close and trusted associates and entities whose officers and directors are the very same persons, and high value and frequent transactions under the control and direction of the beneficial owner, VP Binay,” the AMLC said in the Inquirer report.
The Inquirer also quoted the AMLC as saying that Binay’s seven bank accounts received checks drawn from the accounts of his alleged dummies Limlingan (Binay’s finance officer), Lily Crystal, Mitzi Sedillo and Bernadette Portollano (who are Limlingan’s employees) and Baloloy (Binay’s longtime executive assistant and secretary) at the time of the construction of the Makati City parking building and the Makati Science High School building from 2007 to 2014.
The AMLC report said Binay’s bank accounts had a total deposit of P293.147 million in the period 2008 to 2014.
The Inquirer was able to obtain a copy of the 62-page AMLC report, which was the result of the Ombudsman investigations into alleged irregularities in the construction of the purportedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II and Makati Science High School when Binay was still the mayor.
Binay said the ongoing hearings before the Manila Regional Trial Court regarding the civil forfeiture case against him revealed that he only had one bank account – and not 242 as earlier reported – which contained only P1.7 million and not billions of pesos.
“Sa loob ng anim na buwan, anim na buwan, binusisi ng AMLC, hindi lang ang aking bank accounts kundi pati ang sa aking pamilya. Pati na ang bank account ng Office of the Vice President kung saan ako pinapasweldo bilang pangalawang pangulo, binusisi ng AMLC. Kasama rin, sabi ko nga, ang bank accounts ng aking mga anak at apo at mga kaibigan,” Binay said.
(For six months, the AMLC scrutinized not only my bank accounts but also those of my family. It also pored over the bank account of the Office of the Vice President which is used to compensate me as the vice president. It did not leave out the bank accounts of my children, grandchildren and friends.)
“Pagkatapos ng higit anim na buwan, ano ang sinabi ng AMLC sa hukuman? Isang bank account lang, hindi napakaraming bank account, hindi daan-daan. Isang milyong piso lang, hindi bilyun-bilyong pisong sinasabi noong una,” he added.
(After more than six months, what did the AMLC tell the court? Only one bank account existed, not multiple, not hundreds of bank accounts. It also stated that the account contained just one million pesos, and not multi-billion as earlier reported.)
Binay said he had assured the court that he would not touch the frozen bank accounts as a show of good will to prove that he was not embroiled in corruption.
“Ang sabi ko sa hukuman, hindi ko gagalawin ang nasabing bank account na yan para ipakita ang aking good faith, ang aking tiwala sa ating justice system, at ang aking paninindigan na ang nasabing bank account ay hindi galing sa katiwalian. Ni minsan, hindi ako nagsamantala sa taongbayan,” he added.
(I told the court that I would not touch that bank account to show my good faith, my trust in the justice system and my conviction that the money from the bank account did not come from anomalous transactions. Not once did I take advantage of the people.)
Binay also said his rivals did not respond to his challenge that they also release medical certificates that would show they are physically and psychologically fit.
He has released a medical certificate signed Jan. 27, 2016 from the Makati Medical Center finding him “physically and mentally fit for his candidacy as President of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Binay said none of the candidates has released a medical certificate.
Binay earlier challenged rival Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to undergo a psychiatric test after a reported psychological report showed that Duterte has no sense of guilt and remorse, supposedly symptoms of “Antisocial Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” which Binay said could explain why Duterte could openly support summary killings and joke about the rape-slay of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill.
READ: Binay calls Duterte ‘abnormal,’ says he has ‘sick mind’
“Nanawagan din ako sa aking mga kapwa kandidato sa pagkapangulo na magpakita ng kanilang medical certificate. Ngunit tulad ng AMLC waiver, wala ni isa sa kanila ang tumugon. Kaya inuulit ko, sa aking mga kapwa kandidato, kung wala tayong itinatagong sakit – psychological man o physical man – magpakita rin kayo ng medical certificate,” Binay said.
(I also urge my fellow candidates to release their medical certificates. But just like in my appeal for them to sign an AMLC waiver, none of them has responded. So I am asking my fellow candidates again, if you are not concealing a sickness—whether psychological or physical—release your medical certificates.)
“Karapatan ng taumbayan na malaman kung ano ang totoong psychological at mental state at physical condition ng kanilang ibobotong pangulo,” he added.
(It is the right of the people to know the true psychological, mental and physical condition of the candidate they will vote for president.)
Another candidate, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, earlier refused to release her medical records even though she claims she has licked stage four cancer. IDL
READ: Santiago stands up to critics of her health: ‘Why are you so nasty?’