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Ex-Makati VM Mercado: I will not back down in testifying on Binay case
Former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado on Wednesday said he will not back down in testifying on the graft trial of former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, wife of former Vice President Jejomar Binay.
In an interview with reporters at the Sandiganbayan, Mercado clarified that he is appearing in the trial not because he is against the Binays, but to give his testimony on the Commission on Audit (COA) report regarding the incident.
"Tuluy-tuloy [ito]. Hindi naman 'yun against the Binay. Ang aking testimony naman ay kung ano lang ang nangyari sa COA report. Pangit sabihin na against the Binay kasi hindi naman kami magkalaban, hindi naman kami naglalaban dito," he said.
"Ang usapan lang naman dito ay pinapa-identify lang sa akin ng prosecution 'yung libro kung saan nanggaling [yung kaso] at kung 'yun ba ang original," he added.
Mrs. Binay is charged with graft before the Fifth Division in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of office partitions and furniture worth P72.06 million in 1999 during her term as Makati mayor.
In his testimony, Mercado said he was tasked by Mr. Binay, himself a former Makati mayor, to coordinate with the team from COA who would conduct the audit.
The audit was for the furniture and fixtures in the then newly-constructed city hall, as well as in other departments in the city government.
The COA report came out in 2002, and Mercado was again tasked by Mr. Binay to make a comment on the report.
Mercado was only called in again by Mr. Binay after COA sent its final audit report.
This time, however, Binay asked Mercado to meet with Nicanor Santiago, who was then the city administrator, and talk with lawyers regarding the report because it "will end up in a case."
Mercado said he gave lawyers a photocopy of the report and the original to Santiago.
It was only in July 2014 that Mercado saw the report after he had a lunch meeting with Santiago, who instructed him to give the report to Heidi Mendoza, the leader of the COA team who conducted the audit.
The report, which is written in a bounded green booklet, stated the COA findings on the furniture.
Santiago died not long after, and Mercado said he was bothered by his conscience that the audit report had not yet been delivered to COA.
Mercado said that on August 20, 2014, he personally went to the office of Mendoza who was already a COA commissioner at that time.
Upon receipt of the audit report, Mercado said Mendoza had a sigh of relief. "Salamat, Vice Mayor. You are my savior," Mercado quoted Mendoza as saying.
The prosecution was able to get the original audit report from COA and presented it to the court as another evidence.
