Miriam: Enough evidence gathered vs. VP Binay

(Updated Nov. 7,  8:17 a.m. ) The Senate blue ribbon subcommittee has gathered enough evidence against Vice President Jejomar Binay that it could already wrap up its inquiry and turn over the matter to the Ombudsman, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said on Thursday.

 

The subcommittee is conducting an investigation on the allegations of corruption against VP Binay particularly the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II and his alleged ownership of a property in Rosario, Batangas that was not declared in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

 

"[The subcommittee] can close its hearing and endorse the matter to the Office of the Ombudsman," she told reporters in press conference at Quezon City.

 

"Marami na ang ebidensya. Dapat ibigay na doon," she added.

 

Santiago, a former regional trial court judge, said the Senate panel has already fulfilled its mission to expose the alleged overpricing of the P2.7-billion city hall complex and the controversial Batangas property.

 

"It may be better to present the files and evidence to the Ombudsman… [to look into the ] criminal facet of the case," Santiago added.

 

The Senate subcommittee began its probe in August. 

VP Binay has since denied allegations over the controversial Makati builiding and said his critics who have testified before the Senate subcommittee have not presented evidence that would stand up in court. He described the allegations as part of a demolition job against him.

On Thursday, VP Binay maintained that there was nothing irregular with the construction of the alleged overpriced building and other transactions of the Makati City government during his term as its mayor.
 
In an interview with a radio station in Cebu City, Binay said the construction of the controversial 11-storey building passed procurement laws and bidding procedures.
 
“Meron tayong procurement laws na sinunod. Nagkaroon tayo ng bidding,” Binay said.
 
He, however, did not further explain, saying they will answer the allegations in court.
 

Admissible in court

 

During her press conference, Santiago said pieces of evidence presented before the Senate panel would be admissible in court.

 

These include the testimony of blogger and journalist Raissa Robles, who testified last October 30 that Binay told her in an interview that he had bought the Batangas property.

 

"The blog by Raissa Robles stating that in a 2010 interview, Binay admitted ownership of the Batangas property is an admission against interest that is admissible in court, even if it is hearsay," said Santiago.

 

According to Santiago, the Instagram posts by Binay's youngest daughter Joanna Marie could also be used as evidence. Last October 30, Senate Majority Leader Allan Peter Cayetano presented the Instagram posts in which the younger Binay described the controversial property as "our place in Batangas."

 

"The Instagram post is admissible in evidence against Binay as admission against interest," said Santiago.

 

Santiago said that the one-page document submitted by Antonio Tiu to the Senate panel supposedly to prove his ownership of the property is also admissible as evidence. "If the document is not public – meaning to say it is not notarized – it would still be a valid agreement between the parties," she said.

 

Violates agrarian reform?

 

But Santiago also had questions about whether the property violates agrarian reform statutes. Citing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, Santiago said that haciendas are "outlawed" as agricultural land owners may only have maximum of five hectares of land. 

 

"The size of the hacienda alone indicates non-compliance with the intent of the agrarian reform law. The law in effect confiscated agricultural land from big landowners, and subdivided them among farmer-beneficiaries," said Santiago, who served as Agrarian Reform Secretary under the late president Corazon Aquino.

 

"It appears that the town of Rosario, Batangas is agricultural in nature.  If so, the town was covered by the agrarian reform program, and generally nobody there should own more than five hectares of land.

 

"The only exception is that the agricultural land was converted, with DAR approval, into commercial land, presumably under the claim of the agri-tourism business.  But the DAR central office reportedly has no file on the conversion of the property."

 

She said that she will file a resolution next week to probe if there was collusion among Department of Agrarian Reform officials and owners of the property.

 

"The legality of the existence of an hacienda — whether 145 or 350 hectares — under R.A. No. 6657 (CARL), aka agrarian reform law is deeply suspicious, and may have involved the crimes of falsification of public documents, and of illegal conversion of agricultural land," she said.

 

Citing DAR records, she said that only about 87 hectares in Rosario have been converted from agricultural land to commercial land. 

 

"That area is so much less than the 145 or 350 hectares subject of the Senate probe.  It indicates that the alleged hacienda is based on agricultural land without DAR approval," she said. 

 

Santiago noted that this practice of illegal land conversion has been "rampant" even from her term at DAR.

 

"When I was Agrarian Reform Secretary, the most scandalous source of corruption in the DAR was the rampant illegal conversion of agricultural land.  Hence, after reading about the humongous size of the land, my eyebrows rose up to my hairline," she said. 

Santiago said the Senate panel should also look into this issue.

"I humbly urge the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee to investigate the DAR officials and other persons responsible for failure to place Rosario town under the mandate to acquire and distribute agricultural land," she said.

 

Who owns the property?

 

According to Santiago, the ownership of the sprawling Batangas property is still unclear.

 

Tiu has claimed ownership of the property by invoking the one-page memorandum of agreement between himself and Laureano Gregorio, Jr. However, Santiago said that the DAR has no record of Gregorio being a landowner in that area.

 

Tiu has been accused of being a dummy, with Binay as the true owner of the property. 

 

“The alleged original landowner is not a landowner in the DAR records.  If so, then he could only have been a farmer.  But again, the DAR records show that it has never issued any document to Gregorio as a farmer,” she said.

 

The feisty senator also lambasted Tiu's recent press conference, where the businessman cried blackmail, claiming that he has received threats that government agencies would run after his business interests. 

 

“If Gregorio was not an owner or a farmer-beneficiary, presumably he is a poseur or a fraud.  And Tiu is lying when he claims that he bought the land from this poseur. Thus, Tiu is liable for contempt for telling fairy tales,” she added. — NB/JST/LBG, GMA News