Joey Salgado, the spokesman of former vice president Jejomar Binay on Thursday slammed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, whom he accused of “no longer hiding her hypocrisy and double standard.”
This was after the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday said its field identification office recommended graft charges against Binay after completing its probe of the P600-million sale of the property owned by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines on Malugay Street, Makati City during Binay’s tenure as BSP president.
In a statement, Salgado said that only a few days ago, Morales had said that she would no longer pursue the cases against high-profile allies and personalities of the previous administration who benefited from the PDAF scam.
Salgado added that the Ombudsman justified this by citing the alleged absence of evidence and lack of time, even if an affidavit has been signed by Janet Napoles naming these high-profile allies and personalities.
But Salgado noted that Morales still found time to pursue the case against the former vice president, even if the complaint lacked basis in fact.
“Clearly, the Ombudsman intends to spend her last days in office pursuing her personal and political agenda against former VP Binay while being a true-blue Yellow protector to the end. It’s selective justice, pure and simple,” said Salgado.
The Ombusdman’s investigation team recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges for violation of Section 3(e) and (g) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) against former vice president Jejomar Binay, then BSP president; then senior vice president Wendel Avisado; then executives Del de Guzman, J. Miguel de Jesus, Enrique Lagdameo, Pedro Destura, Dale Corvera, Maximo Edralin Jr., Remedios Petilla, Roberto Pagdanganan, Harmes Sembrano, Mildred Garay, Manuel Jose Dalipe, Leo Lasacar, Danilo Asiaten, Lutgardo Barbo, Jose Mari Pelaez, Ireneo Aquino, Jose Eduardo Delgado, Henry Dy, Jose Ma. Gastardo, Pepito Carpio, Nemesio Miranda Jr., Jaime Semana, Wilfredo Chato, Alan Zulueta, Jorge Banal, Efren Edgard Dieta, Rodolfo Tamani, Von Carlo Yacob, J. Rizal Pangilinan, Salud Bagalso and Amado Espino Jr.
Charges for violation of Section 3(e) were also recommended against Alphaland Makati Place Inc. president Mario Oreta; former Bureau of Internal Revenue officers Teodoro Galicia as the authorized revenue official, Mark Anthony Panganiban as the revenue officer and Romeo Tomas, as group supervisor.
An administrative complaint for gross neglect of duty was also recommended against Binay, Avisado, De Guzman, Pagdanganan, Lasacar, Palaez, Delgado, Dy and Carpio.
According to the Ombudsman, the criminal and administrative charges would still undergo preliminary investigation and administrative adjudication, respectively.
On June 2, 2011, the BSP national executive board authorized the sale of the 10,000-square meter property to AMPI for a total contract price of P600,000,000.
The sale was grossly undervalued considering that under the omnibus loan and security agreement between BSP and AMPI, the Malugay property was mortgaged for P1,750,000,000, “which is indicative of the property’s true value.”
On Nov. 25, 2015, AMPI commissioned Intech Property Appraisal Inc. to appraise the Malugay property and its improvements.
According to Intech, the land was valued at P1,700,000,000 (10,000 sqm x P170,000.00/ sqm) and its improvements valued at P8,426,541,915 or a total appraisal value of P10,126,542,000.
