Binays: Graft, falsification charges baseless

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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Monday, March 12, 2018
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MANILA – Former vice president Jejomar Binay and son, former Makati City mayor Junjun, were facing graft and falsification charges over alleged irregularities in the construction of the P1.3-billion Makati Science High School.

The Office of Ombudsman filed at the Sandiganbayan four counts of graft and three counts of falsification of public documents against each of the Binays.

There was no basis for the charges, the Binays said.

“The Ombudsman clearly intends to spend her remaining months in office pursuing her obsession to prosecute [the Binays] on false and baseless charges,” their spokesman Joey Salgado said in a statement.

These charges “[display] the hypocrisy and selective justice of the Ombudsman,” Salgado said.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales “has been less enthusiastic in probing the complaints against officials and personalities of the previous administration,” he added.

The Binay father and son allegedly “conspired with one another” in committing the criminal and administrative offenses, said the Ombudsman.

“The aforesaid offenses were committed during the procurement, bid and award of the contracts for the architectural and engineering services and the six contracts for the construction of the 10-story Makati Science High School,” the Ombudsman said.

According to the anti-graft body, the procurement had been “rigged and prearranged to favor of Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. and Infiniti.”

“To create an appearance of competition,” the Ombudsman said, the Binays “picked up from a list of supposed competitors and falsified their documents and forged the signatures of their representatives.”

This was the second case the Binays were facing at the Sandiganbayan, aside from graft and malversation charges over the allegedly overpriced construction of the Makati City Hall Parking Building 2.

Salgado said their lawyers were “looking forward to proving the innocence” of the Binays “in an impartial tribunal.”

“They will show that these cases are part of the political persecution of a biased Ombudsman,” he added./PN
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