By PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA — Philippine politics would be so much worse if Vice President Jejomar Binay gets elected as president in 2016, according to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
“Sa aking paniniwala, ang Binay presidency would be so much worse than an Arroyo presidency,” Trillanes said in a forum in Quezon City.
Trillanes sought a Senate investigation on the alleged P2.7-billion 11-storey car parking building in Makati City, Binay’s political bailiwick.
“The cost is too big,” Trillanes said in an interview, comparing the building construction with the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
“Doon sa pork barrel scam na ang mga naaakusahang senador ay daan-daang milyon ang inaakusa sa kanila, a lot of people already found it scandalous. Pero dito po P2 billion ang involved, and it involves the vice president,” he said.
During the inquiry Wednesday last week, Trillanes asked for other documents related to other buildings believed to be overpriced.
“We should find out if this thing is true because if this (is true), and the vice president gets elected (as President), then you’ll have a pattern of behavior transferred from Makati to the Republic of the Philippines,” he said.
Trillanes said the so-called parking building was “three or four times” more expensive than high-end commercial and residential buildings in Makati, like the 46-storey Shang Grand Tower and the 57-storey The Residences at Greenbelt-San Lorenzo Tower.
The overpriced amount could have been used to build classrooms instead, he said.
Binay had said he was not happy with how the Senate investigation last week went. He believed it was laden with a “political motive.”
“Sa prosecutors, wala naman akong narinig doon na in aid of legislation. Magiging ipokrito ako kapag sinabi kong hindi (ako na offend). Nalulungkot ako,” he had said./PN
