TWO supporters of the Liberal Party who are behind a plot to destroy the presidential bid of Vice President Jejomar Binay have refused to answer questions under oath that they have been conspiring to demolish the reputation of Binay and his family, Binay’s lawyer said Thursday.
Francis Enrico Gutierrez, owner of the mining companies SR Metals Inc. and its subsidiaries San R Mining Co. and Galeo Equipment and Mining Co., and Salvador Zamora, owner of Nickel Asia Corp., refused to answer the Written Interrogatories served to them that sought to elicit their answers on their participation in the conspiracy to destroy the name and reputation of the Vice President,” Binay’s lawyer Claro Certeza said.
Written Interrogatories allow a party in a legal case to demand that the adverse party answer under oath questions material to the case.
Certeza said Gutierrez and Zamora, who are supporters of LP presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II, declined to answer questions posed by the lawyers of Binay about the secret meetings at the Nickel Asia Corp. Tower in the Bonifacio Global City where they plotted to destroy Binay’s chances of winning the 2016 presidential elections.
“The plan to derail Vice President Binay’s presidential candidacy allegedly include the numerous Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearings, the Ombudsman cases filed by Mr. Renato Bondal, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council strong-arming the Vice President and his supporters,” Certeza said.
Gutierrez and Zamora are among several private and public individuals named in the P200-million damage suit filed by Binay before the Makati Regional Trial Court.
The two also refused to confirm that Senators Alan Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, and Liberal Party stalwart Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice also attended at least one of the supposed meetings when the demolition job against Binay was being discussed and planned.
Moreover, Certeza said, they also refused to confirm that the following people were present in the meetings: Hernani Braganza, Ronald Llamas, Dexter Estacio, Mari Jogardi, Ariel Olivar, Erwin Antonio, lawyers Jaye dela Cruz and Sarah Lou Arriola, Cecilia Lero, Vince Dizon, Ching and Babes Suba, Raul Ang, Cora Dacong, Dan Kelly, and Giboy Salapantan.
Estacio, Jogardi, Arriola and Dizon are members of Cayetano’s staff.
“Gutierrez and Zamora also refused to answer if they personally knew AMLC officials Amando Tetangco Jr., Teresita Herbosa, Emmanuel Dooc and lawyer Julia Abad; if they were provided copies of the AMLC report on the bank accounts and financial records of the Vice President; and if the said report was discussed in their meetings at NAC Tower,” Certeza said.
“The two also refused to answer whether they made contributions to Roxas and the LP for the 2010 elections and are making contributions to fund the LP and Roxas’ presidential campaign for 2016.”
Certeza said they likewise refused to answer whether Erice and a person connected with the LP accompanied Gutierrez in a meeting to negotiate and discuss a loan Gutierrez had with a banking institution.
Moreover, Binay’s lawyers sought to determine whether Gutierrez and Zamora owned the helicopters used to take the aerial footage shown by former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado during his testimony in the Senate against Binay.
Gutierrez is the owner of the Cessna planes being used by Roxas in his campaign trail.
The two also refused to answer whether they met any of the witnesses who testified against Binay in the Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearings and whether they provided or continue to provide financial assistance to any of the witnesses.
Finally, Certeza said, the two likewise refused to answer whether they provided funds for the preparation of negative advertisements against the Vice President using the same allegations made in the Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearings.