BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Just one contractor – Hillmarc’s Construction Corp. – handled several construction projects of the local government of Makati City.
But Vice President Jejomar Binay, former mayor of Makati, saw nothing wrong with that.
“Tanungin ninyo ang ibang pamahalaan, sa Iloilo at sa Taguig,” Binay told reports at a press conference in his office at the Coconut Palace in Pasay City yesterday.
In Iloilo, Hillmarc’s built the new provincial capitol in the early 2000s.
It is currently the contractor of the Iloilo Convention Center.
Hillmarc’s also constructed the Bacolod City Hall in Negros Occidental.
In 2011, the University of Makati Nursing building project was awarded to Hillmarc’s, as well as the Ospital ng Makati District 1-Phase 2 in late 2012.
The allegedly overpriced P2.75-billion Makati City Hall car park building or Makati City Hall 2 was also a project of the more than 30-year-old construction corporation.
On Tuesday, the former mayor of Makati City, Ernesto Mercado, claimed Binay benefited from the alleged overpricing.
Mercado admitted having received kickbacks himself from Phases 1 and 2 of the building’s construction.
“Hindi porke’t iisa (ang contractor) questionable na ‘yun (One contractor for several projects doesn’t make them questionable),” said Binay, stressing that the every bidding process had been above board.
Qualified contractors interested in Makati projects joined the biddings but there could only be one winner, he said.
Binay lamented that he and his family have become the subject of “malicious prosecution”.
He said the construction of the car parking building underwent stringent assessment and processes prescribed under the Government Procurement Reform Act.
The car park building project was implemented in phases because its total cost cannot be generated from the appropriation of the local government for one year alone, said Binay.
The Commission on Audit (COA), he said, conducted several audits but did not find any irregularity.
Binay also said Mercado was simply bitter about his defeat in the 2010 local election against now Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Jun-Jun” Binay.
The Senate inquiry into the Makati building, Binay said, is a “politicized forum para hanapan kami ng criminal liability at hindi in aid of legislation.”
Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV want Binay to appear in the Senate investigation.
Mercado served as vice mayor from 2007 to 2010. He said the car park building was supposed to cost P1.2 billion only, with the said amount already covering payments for the architectural fee and furniture.
“Na-shock ako sa P2.7-billion cost,” said Marcado./PN
