MANILA – Amid corruption allegations against him, Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay maintained his innocence and asserted that he was never suspended nor convicted for graft or plunder in his more than two decades of public service.
“Ang malungkot na parte sa akin, ‘yung sinasabing pagka sinabing korupisyon e Binay ho ‘yun. ‘Yan hong mga salitang ganyan, kayo ho ay nagiging biktima ng sinasabi naming demolition by perception,” Binay said in an interview with DZMM.
(The sad part for me is when [people] say, ‘Corruption? That’s Binay.’ Words like that, you’re becoming a victim of what we call demolition by perception.)
“Yan pong demolition na ‘yun, alam po ng mga naninira sa akin noon pa man na sila ay nagsisinungaling. Sila po ay alam po nila na hukuman lang ang makapagsasabi [kung ako nga’y kurakot],” he added.
(That demolition, my detractors know that they’ve been lying since back then. They know that only the court can say if I’m indeed corrupt.)
Aside from corruption allegations, Binay also heard that there has been a murder complaint filed against him as well. With this he only said, ‘Yan po ang gawain po – demolition by perception’ (That action – is demolition by perception).
It can be recalled that Binay was once ordered suspended during his time as Makati City mayor. In 2006, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) accused him of including ‘ghost employees’ on the city payroll. The order, however, was later on stopped by the Court of Appeals (CA).
In 2014, corruption scandals were again hurled against Binay, including the overpriced Makati City Building II and Makati City Science High School, and the controversial Hacienda Binay in Batangas. The CA then issued a freeze order on Binay’s more than 200 bank accounts as petitioned by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
All recent allegations were probed by the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee. Binay, however, did not attend any of the hearings as he claimed that he was already pre-judged. He did, for his part, send an affidavit.
“Uulitin ko po hindi kasi isang lugar ito na makakatikim ka ng disente at hindi tamang lugar na marinig ang iyong paliwanag. Bintang dito, bintang doon,” he said.
(I will reiterate, this is not a place where you’ll receive a decent [hearing] and this is not the right place to voice out your explanations. Accusations here, accusations there.)
“Sa sako-sakong ibinintang po sa akin, na siyang naging daan na kami ho ay binansagan na may imaheng korupsiyon… ni minsan hindi ako nakatikim ng suspension, lalong-lalo na ang conviction. Hindi ako [convicted]. Wala hong napatunayan,” he added.
(To the multitude of accusations against me, that paved the way for us to be given the image of corruption… never did I receive suspension, most especially conviction. I’m not convicted. Nothing was proven.)