Arrest warrant for Binay son out today

MANILA, Philippines - The arrest warrants for contempt against Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and five other city officials will be out today, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said yesterday.

Cayetano, chair of the Senate rules committee, told reporters the Senate only has to resolve the issue of quorum in the issuance of arrest warrants.

He reminded Binay and other Makati officials that the Senate has the power to cite them in contempt and detain them for refusing to attend the hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee on the anomalies involving him and his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

The senator also advised Binay to end all the drama and save everyone the trouble by just attending the hearings.

“To facilitate everything, the Binays should demonstrate that they are not above the law. When they are called to the Senate because there are anomalies, they should attend. They are not being bullied here. There is no unfairness here. As I said before, the issue here is procedure,” Cayetano said.

“All he has to do is say that he will be coming voluntarily. Then there won’t be any more problems… The agenda is to fight corruption so what the Binays are looking for is not fair treatment. What they want is special treatment,” the senator added.

Lee seeks inhibition of judge

Meanwhile, jailed Globe Asiatique president Delfin Lee has sought the inhibition of the judge who ordered his arrest, accusing the magistrate of bias against his syndicated estafa case and being linked to Vice President Binay.

San Fernando, Pampanga Regional Trial Court Judge Ma. Amifaith Fider-Reyes ordered the arrest of Lee last year on estafa charges involving money from Pag-IBIG Fund used for his Xevera home projects in Mabalacat City and Bacolor town in the province.

The Vice President is chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the umbrella department to which the Pag-IBIG Fund belongs.

Lee yesterday filed a motion asking Reyes to inhibit from his case. He cited reports that Reyes “is also handling court duties in Makati City” and has been “receiving monthly allowances and a service vehicle from the Makati City government,” so these cast doubt on her partiality.

Lee also claimed that the Vice President has been “very vocal in the print and broadcast media of his personal interest in the prosecution of this criminal case against him.”

Lee noted that Reyes ordered him arrested in March 2014 despite a ruling from the Court of Appeals lifting her order and asking her to “cease and desist” from proceeding with the cases against him in November 2013.

The Senate also wanted Lee to appear as a resource person in its hearings on the Xevera housing case and on anomalies in the HUDCC allegedly involving Binay.

But last week, Reyes junked for the second time the request of the Senate to allow Lee to attend its hearing on anomalies in the HUDCC.

Lee’s legal counsel Willie Rivera also cited “grave indiscretions” of Reyes, including her past junking of similar motions to inhibit herself from Lee’s case despite the latter’s filing of disbarment and administrative cases against her.

Lee and Rivera claimed that Reyes “is vying for a position before the Court of Appeals and the Sandiganbayan” and that “in the pendency of the administrative and disbarment cases, there is no way that she will be appointed as justice in either Court of Appeals or the Sandiganbayan because that is not allowed by the Judicial and Bar Council Rules.

“This is one reason why herein accused believes that the Honorable Presiding Judge is getting even with him by denying all his motions even if they are legally correct,” the motion read. – With Marvin Sy, Ding Cervantes