Cayetano slams Binay camp's flip-flopping on overprice issue

"Dati walang overprice, walang corruption. Ngayon may corruption pero hindi alam ni VP Binay?"

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter "Companero" Cayetano blasted Binay's camp for saying one thing about the corruption allegations in the city of Makati and then saying something totally different two weeks later.

In radio interview on Friday, Cayetano slammed Cavite Governor and Vice Presidential Spokesman for Political Affairs Jonvic Remulla for recently admitting that "a triumvirate of corruption" oversaw the rigging of the bidding for projects of the city of Makati during Vice President Jejomar Binay's term as mayor, when prior to this they were insisting that there was no overpricing of the project cost.

"Kahapon, umamin na din sila. Dahil sinabi ni Governor Jonvic na triumvirate of corruption daw itong yumaong engineer ng Makati na si Engineer Morales, itong si Vice Mayor Mercado, at si Engineer Hechanova. Two weeks ago, sinasabi nila na zero corruption sa Makati. Ngayon sinasabi nila na merong corruption pero hindi daw sa kanila napunta," Cayetano said.

"Paano nila paninindigan ngayon na walang overprice [in the construction of the Makati building] kung inamin na nila na may corruption, hindi nga lang daw sa kanila. Iba na ito sa sinasabi nila two weeks ago," he added.

Remulla was apparently referring to former Makati purchasing officer Mario Hechanova, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and city engineer Nelson Morales, now deceased. He made the statement after Hechanova linked Vice President Binay to the alleged rigging during last Thursday's Senate blue ribbon sub-committee hearing on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II.

During the Senate hearing, Hechanova alleged that Vice President Binay, then mayor of Makati, gave him and other members of the city awards and bidding committee a monthly allowance of P200,000 to rig the bidding of city projects.

But Remulla defended the Vice President, claiming that it was known in Makati that Mercado, Morales, and Hechanova were the ones rigging the bidding, especially among infrastructure projects. He said Binay's camp was able to uncover the alleged rigging of contracts by Hechanova's group even before Binay's term as mayor ended.

Cayetano took a swipe at the Binay spokesman for revealing that there had indeed been instances of corruption in the city government, which he claimed was a contradiction of the Vice President's earlier claims that Makati has always adopted a zero tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption.

The senator also reiterated his call for the Vice President to appear before the Senate hearing to personally answer allegations thrown against him.

"We made an open invitation that any time in the investigation, he can appear... We are trying to do it as professionally as we can, but the problem is that they are not cooperating," he said.

Cayetano refuted Binay's allegations that the Senate probe on the controversial P2.3-billion Makati structure is politically motivated and intended only to malign the Vice President and his family.

"Mawalang galang lang doon sa mga nagsasabing pulitika lang yan, kapag pumasok ka sa pulitika, kasama yung kahit anong anomalya, harapin mo at magpaliwanag ka sa taumbayan," he quipped.

"Kung gusto ng privacy ng pamilya Binay, huwag sila pumasok ng pulitika. Pero gagastusin nila ang pera ng bayan at it will appear na P1 billion ang overprice, hindi ba hustisya na sagutin man lang nila?" he pointed out.