Binay insists on separate trial from his son

Former Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / ELOISA LOPEZ

Former Vice President Jejomar Binay has appealed the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s rejection of his bid to raffle off to another court his cases in connection with the P2.2-billion Makati City Hall carpark building.

Binay continued to assail the automatic consolidation of his cases in July 2016 with those filed five months earlier against his son, former Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. The court already denied his request on Jan. 31.

In a 20-page motion for reconsideration, the elder Binay said the consolidation was against the Revised Internal Rules of the Sandiganbayan, because it mandates the inclusion of all cases in the regular raffle. Consolidation, he argued, may only take place by considering several cases filed together as one.

“The rules prohibit the immediate and automatic consolidation of new cases filed with the Honorable Court with existing and pending cases,” Binay’s motion read.

Binay also assailed the Sandiganbayan’s finding that the “sets of cases essentially emanate from similar or the same transactions.” This could not have been the case, he argued, because the Ombudsman had treated each construction phase of the project as separate and distinct charges.

The appeal maintained that Binay’s graft, malversation and falsification cases only involved Phases I to III of the project, while the earlier graft and falsification cases against his son involved Phases IV to V and did not have the element of malversation.