Binay, 2 kids face plunder complaints; raps a replay of Senate presentation – VP camp

Vice President Jejomar Binay and his two children are facing separate plunder and corruption charges before the Office of the Ombudsman. The criminal charges

were filed by former Makati mayoral candidate Renato Bondal based on the information he allegedly collated when he testified in the ongoing Senate investigation of the alleged corruption practices in Makati during the stint of the Vice President as mayor and allegedly continued by his son, Mayor Jejomar Erwin Jr.

The second case concerned the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of Makati Rep. Abigail Binay. The suspended mayor was also included in this complaint as the alleged implementing officer of his sister’s PDAF. Also charged in the PDAF issue was COA auditor Cecilia Cag-anan.

But the camp of Vice President Binay said the complaint filed by Bondal is just a replay of his Powerpoint presentation before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee.

“Like Mr. Bondal’s other allegations, these have been proven to be baseless and mere guesswork,” Office of the Vice President (OVP) Media Affairs Chief Joey Salgado said in a statement yesterday afternoon.

The plunder case cited the Vice President and his mayor-son for allegedly conspiring with several others in diverting to the Philippine Healthcare Educators, Inc. (PHEI) more than 547 million funds of the College of Nursing of the University of Makati (UMak) from 2005 to 2015.

Bondal said PHEI “is principally owned, managed, and controlled by the respondents and their co-conspirators, in order to amass ill-gotten wealth for themselves.”

The Binays’ co-accused in the plunder case were Tomas Lopez, UMak president, as well as private respondents Eusebio Tanco, Monico Jacob, Annabelle Borromeo, Jack Arroyo Jr.

Bondal said the respondents were able to accumulate huge amount by over charging thousands of students enrolled at the nursing school.

But Salgado said the Vice President and the other city government officials are original shareholders of PHEI because they represent the equity holdings of the city, and not in their personal capacities. They hold nominal shares 1 percent and didn’t earn from the joint venture as the all the income went to the city government.

He said UMak charged per student up to 40,000 per semester which he said is very exorbitant considering that the city-owned school also gets big appropriations from the local government.

He said the school should only charged 1,500 per semester for city residents and 3,000 for outsiders.

But Salgado said the higher fees in the College of Nursing apply only to non-Makati residents. Makati residents who pass the academic qualifications are considered full scholars. Wala silang binabayaran na tuition at iba pang fees. They represent around 30 percent of the enrollees. Those who do not meet the academic scholarship requirements pay the full tuition, which is actually below the median among nursing school tuition fees in Metro Manila.

Bondal said that the accused profited from the operations of the nursing school even if it received substantial subsidy from the city government.

Salgado even cited UMak College of Nursing Joint Venture Project as a model Public-Private-Partnership, antedating the government’s PPP. It has generated at least 262-million financial benefits to the City of Makati and its beneficiaries.

“We are ready to respond to these latest allegations. If the Ombudsman were only fair and impartial, these complaints would immediately be dismissed,” Salgado said, referring to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

In Rep. Binay’s case, Bondal said the lawmaker and his brother released 15million in PDAF money to Kaakbay Buhay Foundation and Gabay at Pagasa ng Masa Foundation in 2011 which were tagged by COA as fake non-government organizations.

It was not immediately known why the complainant included the Vice President in the criminal complaint as he cannot be charged or suspended while still holding office. The Vice President can only be removed through impeachment filed in Congress.

Salgado also reiterated the challenge of Binay’s camp to Senator Antonio Trillanes, Mr. Bondal, and the other accusers to face the Vice President in court.

“The Vice President has already filed case before the court. They don’t want to face the court because they know their assumption and lies won’t do,” Salgado said.

Last month, Binay lawyer Claro Certeza filed a 200-million damage suit against Trillanes, Bondal, Morales and several others. The respondents, Certeza said, are part of a concerted effort to malign the opposition leader.