Vice President Jejomar Binay’s “presidential defense” last week against allegations of corruption raised against him may have been eaten up by his followers but it remains to be seen, via surveys, whether it convinced the Filipino public.
The charges of overpricing of the Makati City Building II were raised even before he ran and won the vice presidency in 2010. In fact, Binay was suspended by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) during the tenure of president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a penalty he claimed was politically motivated.
Fast forward four years later when he confirms his presidential bid for 2016, a Senate blue ribbon committee investigation has reopened the Makati City Hall Building II graft case. The claims, according to Binay, have yet to be proven with documentary evidence by his critics like Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
The vice president’s address was set up to brook no further probing questions from the media or the Senate panel.
Like Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Serreno before him, Vice President Binay was a no-show.
He used the previous “maltreatment” received by his son, Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay at the hands of the Senate blue ribbon committee, as grounds for rejecting the Senate committee invitation.
It would be humiliating for Vice President Binay to appear before the Senate and receive similar treatment despite Senator Cayetano’s assurances that he would be accorded every courtesy.
But recall that former vice president Noli de Castro appeared before the Senate to answer allegations of corruption and he was treated with respect even by a former media colleague and election rival, Sen. Loren Legarda.
And what would a Senate inquiry and questioning of Binay achieve other than free publicity for Cayetano, who openly nurses presidential ambitions?
We expect a lot of smoke and heat, but not much light.
The benefits would be minimal – a further overhaul of existing procurement and bidding rules as well as constant reviews of projects which Binay insisted had happened in the Makati City Hall Building II project.
Still, those horror stories of developers and bidders being “detained” in elevators for 20 minutes so they can be delayed in submitting their bidding documents and alleged bags of cash being delivered to Binay and his family suggest that there are many ways for leaders to hide traces of coruption.
Can the Senate clamp down on this?
We’re not holding our breath.