‘Binay critics now clutching at straws’

MANILA, Philippines - Detractors of Vice President Jejomar Binay are clutching at straws just to sustain a media campaign against him, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian said an unidentified source is now accusing Binay of being the administrator of four lots, totaling more than two hectares, in Dingalan town in Aurora province facing the Pacific Ocean.

“This could be another case of ‘kuryente’ or bum steer peddled to media by anti-Binay elements,” he said. Gatchalian, a member of the administration-allied Nationalist People’s Coalition, said the purported tax declaration does not bear the signature of Binay, and it could have been easily noticed had media checked on the documents pertaining to the lots in Dingalan.

Neither was there any proof of authenticity on the purported documents, he said.

“The owners or VP Binay, for that matter, did not sign the sworn statements of ownership or subscribed to these documents.”

Binay’s communications director Joey Salgado pointed out to media that the Vice President’s principal accuser, former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, actually owns the properties in Dingalan.

Gatchalian said Aurora provincial officials confirmed that Mercado owned several lots next to the lots that Binay supposedly owns.

Mercado’s lots are being developed as a resort, he added.

Gatchalian said the case was no different from Mercado’s claim that the Binays own a condominium unit at The Peak Tower in Makati when the real owner was the accuser himself.