‘Binays asking for special treatment’

The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay facing a Senate probe on alleged corruption issues is “not asking for fair treatment but special treatment,” Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said here yesterday.

Cayetano said the Binays “are not asking for justice but they’re asking they be above justice.”

He said the senators have scrutinized the evidence on the allegations made by former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado accusing Binay of getting P188.9 million in kickbacks on the land deal of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP)/Alphaland Corp.

Mercado, who testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearing on Thursday, has been criticized by the camp of the Vice President for failing to show anything to support his allegations that Binay made millions at the expense of the BSP, of which he is the national president.

“Is it wrong to ask those from the Boy Scouts to explain such a deal? Will a blanket denial do?” Cayetano asked.

“Isn’t it that in the media you get both sides? What will we write for Binays’ side if they refuse to answer?” he told local reporters here yesterday after he handed over funds for tricycle drivers for his Presyo, Trabaho, Kita project.

“Why would I need funds in this hearing? Not even a single centavo is needed here because if you are telling the truth, the media will pick it up free of charge,” Cayetano said, adding the one who spends money is the one who tries to kill the story.

“Maybe let us ask the Binays who is operating and who has the big budget and not the ones who are exposing. Maybe those who are hiding,” he said. “Instead of trying to concoct insinuations, why not just explain to the people?”

Cayetano said he is confident that other senators will attend the Blue Ribbon committee hearings where the issues would no longer be about investigations on the Binays but democracy, the powers of the Senate and respect for the rule of  law.

“If they (Binays) continue to snub the hearings, I think they (senators) would now attend and there is a very, very good chance that they will order the detention of these people until they purge themselves of contempt, meaning they would be declared in contempt,” he said.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, for his part, maintained the testimony given by Mercado against Binay was credible in spite of what was said to be a lack of documentary evidence to support his allegations.

The alleged disposition of the BSP’s ownership of the one-hectare property along Ayala Avenue and Malugay Street in Makati City as presented by Mercado was another “sin” committed by the Vice President when he was still mayor of the city, he said.

However, property developer Alphaland defended the transaction it had with the BSP, which it said was negotiated and signed by Mercado.

Trillanes said he would still give more weight to the testimony of Mercado since he was witness to what took place in that particular transaction.

“Testimonial evidence in some cases is stronger than documentary evidence. He was the witness there,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes said that it also defied logic that Mercado would come out with that particular transaction if he was the one behind the alleged irregularities there.

“If this transaction was really his (brainchild) then why bring it out now? It won’t make any sense,” Trillanes said.

He pointed out that when Mercado’s term ended in 2010, someone else continued working on the transaction until it reached its conclusion.

Trillanes said this particular case was yet another demonstration of how the Vice President uses the people around him to sign documents in questionable contracts and agreements so that no paper trail goes back to him.

He admitted Mercado could be held liable for his role in the transaction, but since he agreed to testify about the details, he could be granted immunity as a state witness depending on the authorities concerned.

Mercado alleged that the Vice President received close to P189 million in kickbacks from the deal between Alphaland and the BSP that supposedly led to the disposition of the prime property in Makati that should have been with the BSP.

Alphaland has claimed the BSP’s share in the property, which is now being developed by the firm as a commercial project, is now at P3 billion.

When the deal between Alphaland and the BSP was struck, the value of the share held by the latter was pegged at only P600 million.

Mercado challenged Alphaland to show proof of its claim because he claimed the BSP has not received any money from the development.

Cayetano, on the other hand, said the Senate could force the issue and compel the Binays to attend the hearing.

He added that in barely 15 minutes of questioning the witnesses, people would already know whether they are telling the truth or not.

“Once an order is issued to hold them in contempt and to detain them, they have no more choice,” he said.

Cayetano added they have given the Binays and their witnesses all the chance.

He said they were given fair treatment and no less than Makati Mayor Junjun Binay promised he would return and would ask his employees to attend the hearings if they need them.

But the problem is they are hiding the documents and preventing their employees concerned from attending the hearings, he said.

“The fair treatment they want is for us to simply say yes and yes to them, even if they are lying in front of us,” Cayetano said.

He said no less than Mayor Junjun approached him after he attended the probe and thanked him for being objective, “so I’m wondering now why he is saying that he was not allowed to answer when he was there.”