Binay denies hand in court ruling disallowing Lee’s Senate appearance

Vice President Jejomar Binay has nothing to do with the court’s decision to disallow detained businessman Delfin Lee to testify before the Senate today, his spokesman said yesterday.

Binay’s spokesman Rico Quicho particularly directed the denial to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who had claimed the Vice President had influenced the decision of the Pampanga regional trial court disallowing Lee to testify before the Senate committee.

“Senator Trillanes’ latest accusation against the Vice President is again irresponsible and devoid of any merit,” Quicho said.

Quicho said it was the Department of Justice that is in charge of handling Lee’s case and not the Vice President.

“As such, it is very malicious for Senator Trillanes to insinuate, with nary any basis, that the Vice President has any direct participation in the case,” Quicho said.

Lee, president of real estate developer Globe Asiatique, is facing charges of syndicated estafa for allegedly defrauding the Pag- IBIG Fund ( Home Development Mutual Fund) of P6.6 billion through a housing scam in Pampanga.

The camp of Binay said they are expecting Lee will be used to continue the vicious attacks against the Vice President to divert attention from the numerous cases the jailed businessman was facing and promote his political benefactor.

“It is expected of Mr. Lee to throw these unkind allegations against the Vice President to divert the issue in the numerous cases he is facing. Diverting the issue to pin down the political opponent of Mr. Lee’s benefactor is expected at this point in time,” Quicho said.

Asked about Lee’s supposed protector, Quicho said, “Delfin Lee has not denied the fact and actually volunteered the information to media that he is a supporter of Mar Roxas,” referring to Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

The Vice President had accused Roxas, the purported standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party in 2016, as the one who orchestrated the smear campaign against him.

Lee has been invited to speak at the Senate probe on corruption allegations against the Vice President, specifically to shed light on the alleged housing scam

involving Pag-IBIG Fund and its top ranking officials.

Lee was supposed to testify today before the Senate and name the person behind a multibillion-peso corruption racket in the housing industry.

His lawyer, Rony Garay, confirmed yesterday that his client will no longer appear in the Senate inquiry after the Pampanga RTC revoked its order last year allowing the businessman to appear before the Senate.

“It is outrageous that on a weekend that a senator of the republic has announced that Delfin Lee is willing to stand and give details of a multibillion scam in the housing industry involving the Binays, a judge would hastily revoke an earlier permission for him to appear,” Garay said in a statement, in apparent reference to Trillanes.

In September last year, San Fernando, Pampanga RTC Branch 42 Judge Maria Amifaith Fider-Reyes issued a ruling allowing Lee to testify before the Senate and reveal the involvement of key Malacañang officials in the housing anomaly.

But last week, the Pampanga RTC revoked the order, which had granted the request of the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations and covered specific dates of hearings.

Lee: Binay tried to extort P200 M

In a statement, which Lee hopes to be read by his lawyer at the hearing today, the businessman is accusing Binay of extorting some P200 million from him and to implicate former vice president Noli de Castro in a P6.6 billion Pag-IBIG Fund scam “in exchange for my freedom from persecution and eventual incarceration.”

Quicho said the Senate is once again being used as a venue to destroy and vilify the Vice President.

“Mr. Lee’s case has been pending for quite some time now due to the earnest efforts of the Vice President to further professionalize the housing sector for the public’s benefit,” he said.

Quicho said it was Binay who advised lawyers not to include De Castro for lack of evidence.

“This belated statement of Mr. Lee is clearly meant to sow intrigue between the Vice President and Mr. De Castro. Sadly, Mr. Lee has wittingly allowed himself to be part of this demolition job in order to get away with his previous opportunings that were stopped by the VP,” Quicho said. Lee has been seeking to be given the chance to present his case both in the Senate and the Supreme Court over the past year, insisting that he never defrauded the government of P6.6 billion and that this allegation by Pag-IBIG Fund under Binay was a big hoax.

“I have been waiting for this opportunity since the very first day I was held in detention. I am more than willing and ready to bare all – so that truth could eventually set me free and more importantly, for the innocent homebuyers who were all dragged into this powerplay,” Lee said in a statement over the weekend.

Lee said he would use the hearing at the Senate not as a venue for his defense but “to shed light on the real truth” and if necessary, reveal the reason and unmask the persons behind the anomaly. Lee has maintained that the alleged manipulations and collusions placed legitimate homebuyers at a disadvantage.

“More than anyone else, these people deserve justice and fair play. After all the sufferings and injustices that I together with the thousands of innocent homebuyers have been subjected to, I suppose we deserve to be heard so that we could finally present an honest, fair, truthful, and factual narration or account of the events that eventually led to our persecution, illegal arrest and unlawful detention and deprivation of the rights of legitimate home borrowers,” Lee assured.

Last year, Lee had sought the Pampanga magistrate’s inhibition citing that, among others, the judge is receiving a monthly allowance and is using a service vehicle, a Toyota Innova, provided by the city government of Makati.

He also urged the Supreme Court to take up the circumstances of his continued detention and investigate the actions of a Makati court, which according to him, conspired to keep him from testifying before the Senate.

“For sure, the camp of VP Binay will downplay my testimony by asking the question: why only now?” Lee remarked.

Two new issues

The Senate, on the other hand, would continue its probe into Binay’s alleged corrupt activities.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee tasked to looked into anomalies in the Makati City government, said the panel will resume its hearings today in relation to the resolution filed to probe Binay’s role in the transaction regarding the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and other related anomalies.

Pimentel said the committee will also be weighing the circumstances behind the continuing refusal of the individuals linked to the Makati City Hall Building 2 controversy to appear before the Senate.

Pimentel also said he will ask the Pampanga RTC to explain why Lee was prevented from attending the inquiry. He also urged Lee to submit his affidavit before the Senate regarding the exposes he may have against Binay.

Trillanes, for his part, lamented the Pampanga RTC’s decision in disallowing Lee to appear before the Senate inquiry.

Trillanes though said he has two more “explosive exposes” against Binay despite Lee’s unavailability.

According to Trillanes, Lee’s lawyer informed him that the Pampanga RTC has issued a court order at 7:30 p.m. last Friday, prohibiting Lee from attending the hearing.

“This is a reversal of a previous order allowing him to attend,” he said.

Trillanes accused Binay anew of being behind the efforts to prevent Lee from testifying.

“This last minute flip-flop is highly suspicious and irregular. I wouldn’t be surprised if VP Binay’s hand is again behind this,” he said.

“Nonetheless, we shall proceed on Monday as we will be presenting two new explosive issues against the Vice President,” Trillanes said.