Trillanes: Limlingan’s ‘general denial’ has no value at all

The “general denial” of Gerardo Limlingan that he was no dummy of Vice President Jejomar Binay carries no weight for members of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee investigating alleged anomalies involving Binay.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said Limlingan’s statement, which came from his lawyer and released Friday, “has no value at all,” and would not save him from arrest by the Senate.

“We’ve been conducting this investigation since August last year, and it’s only now that he will issue a general denial?” Trillanes said in text message.

Limlingan’s statement is hard to believe, he added.  “Nobody would buy that.”

READ: Limlingan brothers deny being Binay dummies

He also said Limlingan’s lawyer should accompany him to the Senate so that he could explain his side.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, the subcommittee chair, also shrugged off Limlingan’s statement, noting that it did not seem to have been notarized.

“If he is really not a dummy, why does he have so many defensive posturing mechanisms?” Pimentel told reporters in a phone patch interview.

He said that for a businessman, Limlingan has made himself scarce and is not seen in public unlike other legitimate businessmen.

Limlingan also “totally ignored” the Senate inquiry, despite being mentioned numerous times, he pointed out.

Limlingan has been the subject of subpoenas from the subcommittee, but the Senate staff who went to serve these had not found him.

He has since been cited in contempt for his absence in the hearings, and is now the subject of a Senate arrest warrant. He has yet to be found.

Limlingan and his brother Victor, in a statement released by the family’s counsel Grace Reyes, denied being aides or henchmen of the Vice President.

The statement described the brothers as entrepreneurs and industry experts, with a long list of accomplishments in their respective fields.

Gerardo Limlingan’s name first cropped up during the Senate inquiry when former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado described him as Binay’s finance officer.

According to Mercado, he had handed bags of cash to Limlingan which were meant for Binay, who was then Makati Mayor. The cash came from kickbacks from city infrastructure projects.

Mercado later on alleged that Limlingan was Binay’s dummy, who used to hide his considerable assets.