THE Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday suspended Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and several other persons while they are being investigated for the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II.
The suspension order was issued nearly a week after a special panel of investigators from the Ombudsman filed a complaint against Vice President Jejomar Binay, his son the mayor and 22 others over allegations of overpricing in the construction of the Makati parking building.
Wednesday he had filed a petition to stop the Ombudsman from
implementing its six-month suspension on him. Danny Pata
Mayor Binay challenged his suspension before the Court of Appeals, asking it to issue a temporary restraining order against the Ombudsman.
“I will exhaust all available remedies. I will continue discharging my duties as mayor until all legal remedies have been respected. While I may belong to the opposition, I am still entitled to my rights like any Filipino citizen,” the mayor said.
He also denounced the haste with which the Ombudsman issued its order, calling it a “special express suspension.” The mayor’s sister, Senator Nancy Binay, accused President Benigno Aquino III of using the Ombudsman as a tool to get back at his perceived enemies, and said the suspension of her brother was part of “Oplan Nognog,” a campaign to smear the Vice President, who plans to run for president in 2016.
A spokesman for the Vice President, Rico Quicho, also questioned the speed with which the suspension order was handed down. “While we respect the decision to issue a preventive suspension order against Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay, we pray that the Office of the Ombudsman will not allow itself to fall victim to the machinations of those with political ambitions,” Quicho said in a statement. “Mayor Binay, the Vice President and the other respondents would face the suspension and the complaint knowing that it is against a well-oiled government machinery that would stop at nothing to persecute and prevent the political opposition from running in the upcoming election.”
The filing of the complaint last week paved the way for the Ombudsman to start its preliminary investigation against the Binays and 22 others for malversation, falsification, graft and violation of the procurement law in connection with the construction of the building. The Vice President was included in the complaint since he started the construction of the parking building in 2007, when he was still mayor of Makati.
The Ombudsman investigators started their probe after Renato Bondal and Nicholas Enciso VI accused the Vice President of committing plunder in connection with the construction of the parking building, a charge the Binays have denied.
Bondial and Enciso said the construction of the building worth P1.56 billion was overpriced, citing National Statistics Office construction data that estimated the average cost of the building that year was only P245.6 million.
The allegations of overpricing became the subject of an investigation by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which the Binays said was aimed at damaging the Vice President, who has consistently led opinion polls for the 2016 presidential elections.
In their probe, Ombudsman investigators claimed that the respondents awarded the P11.9-million contract for the design and architectural services to MANA Architecture and Interior Design Company without a public bidding.
They added that payment for the contract was released to MANA even without the deliverables made. The first two phases of the construction of the building also proceeded without a detailed engineering plan, contrary to procurement rules, the investigators said. The complaint also said that Hilmarc Construction, the contractor, was awarded the contract despite irregularities and the use falsified documents.
The complaint also covered former city administrator Marjorie de Veyra; City Legal Officer Pio Kenneth Dasal, City Budget Officer Lorenza Amores, former Central Planning Management Office (CPMO) chief Virginia Hernandez; former city engineer Mario Badillo; former city accountant Leonila Querijero, former acting city accountant Raydes Pestaño; City Accountant Cecilio Lim III, acting City Accountant Eleno Mendoza; city treasurer Nelia Barlis, CPMO engineers Arnel Cadangan, Emerito Magat and Connie Consulta, CPMO Chief Line Dela Peña; Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Secretariat Heads Giovanni Condes and Manolito Uyaco;
Technical Working Group chairman Rodel Nayve; BAC member Ulysses Orienza; General Services Department (GSD) OIC Gerardo San Gabriel;
GSD staff member Norman Flores, as well as private respondents Orlando Mateo of MANA and Efren Canlas of Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. Except for the Vice President, the respondents will also be administratively investigated for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, with the possibility of being suspended from government pending administrative adjudication.
Senate President Franklin Drilon said the Makati mayor should follow the suspension order.
“Our colleagues here in the Senate accepted the suspension as part of the process,” said Drilon, referring to Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr., who are facing trial before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the pork barrel scam. Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of the senators investigating the alleged overpricing in Makati, said the suspension was a legal and moral victory because it proves that there is a basis in the allegations against the Binays.
He said it was “welcome news” for all those who were with them in the fight to weed out the corrupt.
The Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee, of which Trillanes is a part, will resume its hearings on allegations of other anomalies in Makati City today.
Mayor Binay said his family was being singled out for persecution. “There is really special treatment for the Binays. Special Senate hearings. A special COA audit. A special panel of the Ombudsman. And now, a special express suspension,” he said. Binay said the action of the Ombudsman was no longer surprising, given that the special panel of investigators includes prosecutors affiliated with lawyers associated with Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the Vice President’s political rival. Binay supporters trooped to City Hall Wednesday to denounce what they called the unjust persecution of the Binay family. The Palace on Wednesday said it respected the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman.
“It is the decision of the Ombudsman, an independent body, and part of their normative procedure,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a text message. – With Joel E. Zurbano and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan