Let Ombudsman, not Senate probe Binay – law deans
Two legal luminaries describe as “obvious harassment and is politically motivated” the plan of the Senate to resume the investigations against Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Former law school deans Amado Valdez and Pacifico Agabin, in separate interviews by justice and court reporters, said the plan to re-open the probe “could be related to the vice president’s resurgence in the preferential surveys for the 2016 polls.”
Valdez expressed alarm over what he called the “sinister” motive and the timing of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s move to re-open the Senate probe on the alleged irregularities committed by Binay and members of his family.
The former law school dean of the University of the East, Valdez said the Senate should leave the investigation to the Office of the Ombudsman, the prosecutor of erring government officials and employees.
“The Ombudsman can continue its (Senate) investigation. It has broad powers to compel witnesses to testify and compel production of documents, which will more than serve the purpose,” he told journalists.
“The Senate investigation is purely politically motivated,” he stressed.
Publicity stunt Agabin, former law school dean of the University of the Philippines, agreed with Valdez. He said the “timing is suspect” in the reopening of the Senate probe, especially after Binay regained his lead in a number of presidential surveys recently.
Agabin believes “the Senate should stop and just let the Ombudsman do the probing.”
Valdez pointed out that the attacks on Binay could actually benefit his presidential bid and could actually just work in the vice president’s favor.
“That will be the public’s perception that the reopening of the Senate probe is related to recent polls, which will just make VP Binay more as an underdog,” he stressed.
The Senate stopped its inquiry of alleged Binay anomalies last August. The camp of the vice president assailed the planned re-opening of the Senate probe saying it wasaimed at resuscitating Trillanes’ “catatonic” campaign.
Binay’s spokesman Joey Salgado said that among the vice presidential bets, Trillanes has been a consistent tail ender in the surveys.
“Clearly, the senator wants to squeeze from the hearing whatever publicity it can provide him and his catatonic campaign,” Salgado said.
Launching pad The latest preferential survey by Pulse Asia last December showed Vice President Binay leading the presidential race, followed by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe, former Local Government Sec. Mar Roxas and Sen. Miriam Santiago.
The recent January SWS survey showed Binay stretching his lead over Poe, Roxas, Duterte, Santiago and Seneres, in this order.
The Senate probe on Binay and his family ran for more than a year, starting in August 2014. The Binays have repeatedly denied the accusations and don’t expect to get a fair treatment from the Senate.
In August last year, two prominent lawyers branded as “in aid of election” the already one-year-old investigation on Vice President Binay and his family, and called for its immediate termination.
Former Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) national president Vicente Joyas and University of the Philippines (UP) professor Harry Roque Jr. said the probe, which had 23 hearings in 12 months, “was obviously no longer being made for lawmaking purposes.”
“This Senate investigation is no longer in aid of legislation but in aid of election. The senators are fishing for evidence,” Joyas said in an interview.
Valid cause of action Joyas said the agenda of the senators pursuing the investigation “has already become obvious and that the proceedings provide them an avenue to politically harass the Vice President.”
For his part, Roque said: “It (Senate probe) has become an institutional hatchet machinery vs Binay which demeans the oversight function of the Senate.”
“The Senate investigation against Binay has now become clearly unconstitutional. Rules have not been published and there is no legislative purpose,” he said.
Binay had filed before a Makati court a P200-damage suit against Senators Trillanes and Alan Peter Cayetano, who are leading Senate inquiries on the Binays; as well as Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, and several others over corruption claims hurled against the Binay family.
The respondents moved to dismiss the charges but the trial court found a valid “cause of action” in an order released Thursday against the defendants, including Cayetano, Trillanes IV, former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, general services head Mario Hechanova, lawyer Renato Bondal, Nicolas Enciso VI, Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) officials Amado Tetangco, Jr., Emmanuel Dooc, Teresita Herbosa, and Julia Abad; and Carpio-Morales.
The court also ruled that a full blown trial was necessary.
Fair play “The Vice President welcomes the development as it proves that in the proper venue, where the rules of fair play are strictly observed, there can be a somber appraisal of the truth as to the charges hurled against VP Binay,” Claro Certeza, Binay’s lead counsel said.
“VP Binay can now prove what he is saying all along – that the inquisitorial proceedings conducted by his political detractors were all designed simply to destroy his presidential bid,” he added.
The lower court also took to task the Ombudsman and the AMLC officials for using government lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General/ Office of the Ombudsman to represent them in the case.
Since they are being sued in their personal and not official capacities for their complicity in the scheme to destroy the reputation of the Vice President, the court said they cannot use government lawyers, who are paid with public funds, to defend them otherwise, they would violate the law. (with a report from Anna Liza Villas-Alavaren)