Sandiganbayan denies Binay’s bid for a separate trial

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

The Sandiganbayan has denied former Vice President Jejomar Binay’s request to be tried separately for graft from that of his son, former Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr.

In a 12-page resolution dated Jan. 31, the court’s Third Division affirmed the propriety of consolidating the cases over alleged irregularities surrounding the contracts for the P2.2-billion Makati City Hall carpark building during the two Binays’ successive mayoralties.

The denial of Binay Sr.’s motion follows a similar rejection by the same court of his wife Elenita’s attempt to have her own graft and malversation cases be reraffled off to separate divisions.

The court had earlier opted to consolidate the charges against Binay Sr. instead of raffling them off when they were filed in July 2016.

The court cited that Section 22, Rule 119 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure grants it the discretion to determine the necessity of a joint trial.

It said that the “sets of cases essentially emanate from similar or the same transactions” and should be tried at the same time to avoid conflicting decisions down the road.

Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez, who wrote the decision, said that Binay Sr. “failed to present any justifiable reason” to rule the consolidation as erroneous.

It added that the administration of justice would be “better served” if only one trial is conducted before only one court on the carpark cases.

The eleven co-defendants of Binay Sr., including successor Binay Jr., will “benefit from the  ‘simplification, not confusion, of procedure; economy, not waste, of time, energy and expense,’” the resolution read.

In arguing for a separate trial, Binay Sr. disagreed that the cases arose from similar incidents. His criminal cases concerned Phases 1 to 3 of construction until 2010, when his son became mayor and took charge of Phases 4 and 5 of the project.

Binay Sr. was charged only  months later than his son when he lost his immunity upon exiting the vice presidency. He faces four counts of graft, one count of malversation, and nine counts of falsification of public documents.

The Office of the Ombudsman accused the elder Binay of conspiring with several other city officials in awarding the design contract to Mana Architecture and Interior Design Co. without public bidding. Mana received P11 million in payments despite its alleged failure to deliver the approved plans and specifications under the contract, prosecutors said.