THE Office of the Ombudsman has indicted former vice president Jejomar Binay for nine counts of falsification, four counts of graft and one count of misuse of public funds before the Sandiganbayan for the allegedly overpriced, P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II.
Binay’s son, ex-Makati City Mayor Erwin Jejomar Binay, was also charged with two counts of graft, falsification of public documents and misuse of public funds.
The Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecution recommended a bail of P24,000 for each count of falsification of public documents, P30,000 for each count of graft and P40,000 for misuse of public funds for the Binays’ provisional liberty.
The camp of former vice president Jejomar Binay lashed out at Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales for being biased and a protector of the Liberal party in filing the charges against him and his son.
In a statement, Binay’s spokesman Joey Salgado said Morales allowed herself to be a political tool of the previous administration whose political allies committed graft for using funds from the illegal Disbursement Acceleration Program.
The charges stemmed from the time the older Binay was mayor of Makati.
The Ombudsman claims that the Binays connived with other city officials to award the contract to Mana Architecture and Interior Design Co. for the first and second stages or the design stage of the Makati City Hall Building II.
“Despite its failure to deliver the approved plans and specifications under the contract,” MANA was able to receive a payment of P11,011,294.77,” the Ombudsman claims.
The Ombudsman also upheld its indictment to hold the Binays liable for the construction stage of the project by awarding to Hilmarc’s Corp. from 2007 to 2011 three contracts worth P11.486 million through “simulated public biddings.”
According to Morales, the construction of the parking building began even without approved design standards, contract plans, cost estimates, detailed engineering and programs of work.
The Commission on Audit earlier reported that the construction of the P2.28-billion Building II was irregular from budgeting to the execution. As a result, there was misuse of public funds.
Moreover, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said father and son approved the payment release to Hilmarc’s despite full awareness that its accomplishment report was “baseless” due to the absence of supporting documents.