Elenita Binay seeks separate trials

Former Makati City Mayor Elenita Binay has asked the Sandiganbayan to hold separate trials for the four criminal cases she face over the anomalous purchase of hospital beds and sterilizers.

In a 13-page motion dated Oct. 10, Binay asked for her cases to be reraffled so they would be tackled in separate trials. She told the antigraft court’s Third Division, which handles all cases, that consolidation of her charges “unavoidably created an impression of the existence of a premature judgment.”

The impression it created, Binay said, was that the allegations were “connected to each other and formed a pattern.”

“Proceeding with the four unrelated cases together unlawfully shifts the burden on the accused [Binay] to disprove the preconceived ‘pattern’ and the supposed relation between and among the four cases,” the motion noted.

Binay added that the joint trial of her four cases may create an impression of “inordinate interest” on the Sandiganbayan’s part in litigating her cases.

Binay, who was mayor from 1998 to 2001, faces two counts each of violation of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for causing undue injury to the government and giving unwarranted benefits to a private party, and malversation of public funds under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.