Category: jojo binay

The worst is yet to come for Binay

Ellen Leave a comment

Vice President Jejomar Binay. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.

Vice President Jejomar Binay. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.

Pulse Asia’s latest poll on approval and trust ratings of top government officials showed Vice President Jejomar Binay suffering a huge minus 15 drop in performance and minus 18 in trust in the span of three months.

Approval of President Aquino’s performance remained the same at 54 percent in June 2015 and during last month’s survey (Sept. 8 to 14). The people’s trust for him registered a minimal decline, from 50 percent last June to 49 percent last month.

The performance and trust rating for Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Lourdes Sereno remained almost the same, moving only one or three percent.

The nationwide survey conducted among 2,400 respondents showed that from 58 percent who approved of Binay’s performance in June 2015, only 43 percent expressed satisfaction with his performance. The number of those who disapproved increased from 18 in June to 26 percent last month.

The number of those undecided about his performance increased from 24 to 31 percent.

In the trust department, Binay‘s rating decreased from 57 percent in June to 39 percent last month.

But survey ratings should be the least of Binay’s concern now as the Ombudsman is set to file either today or next week with the Sandiganbayan graft charges against him in connection with the alleged anomalous bidding of the building project in Makati.

That’s only for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. It’s not plunder. Which means he can post bail and continue with his presidential candidacy, as he has announced.

The information we got, however, is it’s Binay’s son, suspended Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, who will finally be ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman next week, that would be another major blow on Binay.

Charges will also be filed against the younger Binay with the Sandiganbayan. If it’s plunder, he faces arrest.

Meanwhile the meeting of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte casts doubt on a Binay-Marcos tandem.

Sources said the Marcos grand dame, Imelda, approved of it but there’s a lot of resistance from other members of the family and staff of Sen. Marcos.

After Sen. Gringo Honasan declined his offer to be his running mate, we learned Binay is talking with Rep. Lito Atienza.

The worst is yet to come for Binay

Ellen Leave a comment

Vice President Jejomar Binay. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.

Vice President Jejomar Binay. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.

Pulse Asia’s latest poll on approval and trust ratings of top government officials showed Vice President Jejomar Binay suffering a huge minus 15 drop in performance and minus 18 in trust in the span of three months.

Approval of President Aquino’s performance remained the same at 54 percent in June 2015 and during last month’s survey (Sept. 8 to 14). The people’s trust for him registered a minimal decline, from 50 percent last June to 49 percent last month.

The performance and trust rating for Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Lourdes Sereno remained almost the same, moving only one or three percent.

The nationwide survey conducted among 2,400 respondents showed that from 58 percent who approved of Binay’s performance in June 2015, only 43 percent expressed satisfaction with his performance. The number of those who disapproved increased from 18 in June to 26 percent last month.

The number of those undecided about his performance increased from 24 to 31 percent.

In the trust department, Binay‘s rating decreased from 57 percent in June to 39 percent last month.

But survey ratings should be the least of Binay’s concern now as the Ombudsman is set to file either today or next week with the Sandiganbayan graft charges against him in connection with the alleged anomalous bidding of the building project in Makati.

That’s only for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. It’s not plunder. Which means he can post bail and continue with his presidential candidacy, as he has announced.

The information we got, however, is it’s Binay’s son, suspended Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, who will finally be ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman next week, that would be another major blow on Binay.

Charges will also be filed against the younger Binay with the Sandiganbayan. If it’s plunder, he faces arrest.

Meanwhile the meeting of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte casts doubt on a Binay-Marcos tandem.

Sources said the Marcos grand dame, Imelda, approved of it but there’s a lot of resistance from other members of the family and staff of Sen. Marcos.

After Sen. Gringo Honasan declined his offer to be his running mate, we learned Binay is talking with Rep. Lito Atienza.

Ombudsman calls Binay’s P200 M suit ‘a sham’

Ellen Leave a comment

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales didn’t mince words in asking the Makati Regional Trial Court to dismiss the suit filed by Vice President Jejomar Binay against her and 12 other persons including senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“Considering that the Complaint appears to be patently bereft of the merit, the only inescapable conclusion is that plaintiff Binay’s suit is a sham,” she said.

Morales reply also dismissed Binay’s complaint as “an obvious publicity stunt calculated to harass and intimidate” her knowing that she will be the final approving authority in the event that the recommendation of the 2nd Special Panel handling the preliminary investigations is adverse to him.

Binay asked for P200 million for damages from the respondents who also include Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice, former Makati Vice-Mayor Ernesto Mercado, former Makati official Mario Hechanova, former Makati barangay official Renato Bondal, Nicolas Enciso, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc, Securities and Exchange Commission chief Teresita J. Herbosa, and Julia Abad of the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Binay said Morales and the other respondents issued statements damaging and prejudicial against him.

Binay has been the subject of a Senate investigation on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall parking building which has expanded into other issues like his sprawling hacienda in Batangas and led to the freezing of his bank accounts by the Anti- Money Laundering Council.

He faces plunder charges which are being investigated by the Ombudsman.

His son, Makati Mayor Jun-jun Binay, has also been implicated in the investigation on anomalous transactions in Makati. The younger Binay has been suspended by the Ombudsman.

On the defense of Binay that he is immune from suit because he, as vice president, can only be removed by impeachment just like the President, Morales said his being “an impeachable officer does not ipso facto free him from being the subject of investigations.”

“It bears emphasis that he is being investigated for criminal acts allegedly committed when he was City Mayor,” she said.

Morales said even impeachable officers are within the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Morales said the Constitution underscores that “public office is a public trust. No official, from the lowest to the highest, is exempt from accountability when it gave the Office of the Ombudsman the power to investigate any serious misconduct in office allegedly committed by officials removable by impeachment, for the purpose of filing a verified complaint for impeachment (R.A 6770).

“What the 1987 Constitution contemplates respecting impeachable officers is that during their tenure or term of office, they cannot be subject of criminal offenses filed with the court, which carry the penalty of removal from office or any penalty, the service of which amounts to removal from office,” the Ombudsman said.

Morales stressed: “The Office of the Ombudsman is not a court. It cannot thus impose any penalty amounting to removal from office in relation to pending criminal complaints. It may, however, after the termination of the preliminary investigations, recommend the indictment of the therein respondent if probable cause is established or, if warranted in cases involving impeachable officers, the filing of an impeachment complaint under Article XI, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution; conversely lack or paucity of evidence presented at those investigations may lead to the dismissal of the criminal charges.”

The Vice President, Morales said, cannot challenge the conduct of an inquiry by the Office of the Ombudsman simply because he is an impeachable officer.

May natira pa ba?

Ellen Leave a comment

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Or are the people, once again, left holding an empty bag?

That is the question of many people reading reports of massive withdrawals from Vice President Jejomar Binay’s alleged 242 bank accounts under his name as well as under the name of his wife former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay and son Junjun, Makati mayor. A number of the accounts are also in the name of his alleged dummies.

The amounts mentioned are mindboggling. In the Inquirer story on the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council which was the basis for the freeze order by the Court of Appeals of suspected Binay accounts, the total amount mentioned is P11 billion since 2008.

From P2.5 million in 1988, his reported net worth when he was first elected mayor of Makati City to having P11 billion today is really mindboggling.

A spectacular increase of 293 per cent in 27 years. And to think that the Binays are supposed to be in public service and not known to be in business.

The Inquirer report states: “In the AMLC report, the amounts of P315,467,269.59, P221,436,720, P44,954,005.43 and P49,075,903.14 in cash were deposited in the various accounts of Gerardo Limlingan, Mario Oreta and Bernadette Cezar Portollano on Oct. 14, 2014… The following day, on Oct. 15, 2014, cash deposits totaling P79,621,549.00 were also made to the alleged dummy accounts.

“The AMLC report also showed that between Sept. 12 and Oct. 22, 2014, a total of P585,754,104.86 was withdrawn in over-the-counter transactions from the accounts of Limlingan and Eduviges D. Baloloy, a longtime Binay executive assistant.”

Limlingan, whose whereabouts are unknown as of now, is reportedly Binay’s financial officer. He is also referred as the VP’s “bagman.”

VP Jejomar Binay in his Batangas hacienda.

VP Jejomar Binay in his Batangas hacienda.

Oreta is the president of property developer Alphaland Corp. which was exposed by former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado as having paid P200 million in kickbacks to Binay for a land deal in Makati involving the property of the Boy Scout of the Philippines, which the Vice President heads. Businessman Roberto Ongpin is Alphaland’s chairman of the board.

Portollano is corporate secretary of Omni Security Investigation and General Services, a security and janitorial services company, and administrator of Binay’s former company, Agrifortuna Inc.

AMLC noted that the withdrawals started when the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee began the investigation into the Makati Parking building overprice last year.

The massive October withdrawals coincided with the Senate hearing on the vast Binay Hacienda in Batangas.
Although it is doubtful if the frozen accounts still hold substantial amounts, it is a danger signal to the Binays. Justice is closing in on them.

Credit should go to Blue Ribbon sub-committee headed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and the Sen. Antonio Trillanes III, who initiated the investigation of the Binays’ unexplained wealth.

The two, more so with Trillanes, have antagonized some people with their persistence in looking into irregularities in Makati involving the Binays. But so far, their exposes have been proven correct.

With the devastating AMLAC report and the CA freeze, Trillanes said it’s game over for the Vice President. He expects Binay to withdraw from 2016 presidential race.

I fervently hope he is right.I dread the prospect of having a president that has perfected the art of plunder.

May natira pa ba?

Ellen Leave a comment

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Or are the people, once again, left holding an empty bag?

That is the question of many people reading reports of massive withdrawals from Vice President Jejomar Binay’s alleged 242 bank accounts under his name as well as under the name of his wife former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay and son Junjun, Makati mayor. A number of the accounts are also in the name of his alleged dummies.

The amounts mentioned are mindboggling. In the Inquirer story on the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council which was the basis for the freeze order by the Court of Appeals of suspected Binay accounts, the total amount mentioned is P11 billion since 2008.

From P2.5 million in 1988, his reported net worth when he was first elected mayor of Makati City to having P11 billion today is really mindboggling.

A spectacular increase of 293 per cent in 27 years. And to think that the Binays are supposed to be in public service and not known to be in business.

The Inquirer report states: “In the AMLC report, the amounts of P315,467,269.59, P221,436,720, P44,954,005.43 and P49,075,903.14 in cash were deposited in the various accounts of Gerardo Limlingan, Mario Oreta and Bernadette Cezar Portollano on Oct. 14, 2014… The following day, on Oct. 15, 2014, cash deposits totaling P79,621,549.00 were also made to the alleged dummy accounts.

“The AMLC report also showed that between Sept. 12 and Oct. 22, 2014, a total of P585,754,104.86 was withdrawn in over-the-counter transactions from the accounts of Limlingan and Eduviges D. Baloloy, a longtime Binay executive assistant.”

Limlingan, whose whereabouts are unknown as of now, is reportedly Binay’s financial officer. He is also referred as the VP’s “bagman.”

VP Jejomar Binay in his Batangas hacienda.

VP Jejomar Binay in his Batangas hacienda.

Oreta is the president of property developer Alphaland Corp. which was exposed by former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado as having paid P200 million in kickbacks to Binay for a land deal in Makati involving the property of the Boy Scout of the Philippines, which the Vice President heads. Businessman Roberto Ongpin is Alphaland’s chairman of the board.

Portollano is corporate secretary of Omni Security Investigation and General Services, a security and janitorial services company, and administrator of Binay’s former company, Agrifortuna Inc.

AMLC noted that the withdrawals started when the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee began the investigation into the Makati Parking building overprice last year.

The massive October withdrawals coincided with the Senate hearing on the vast Binay Hacienda in Batangas.
Although it is doubtful if the frozen accounts still hold substantial amounts, it is a danger signal to the Binays. Justice is closing in on them.

Credit should go to Blue Ribbon sub-committee headed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and the Sen. Antonio Trillanes III, who initiated the investigation of the Binays’ unexplained wealth.

The two, more so with Trillanes, have antagonized some people with their persistence in looking into irregularities in Makati involving the Binays. But so far, their exposes have been proven correct.

With the devastating AMLAC report and the CA freeze, Trillanes said it’s game over for the Vice President. He expects Binay to withdraw from 2016 presidential race.

I fervently hope he is right.I dread the prospect of having a president that has perfected the art of plunder.