Junjun detained, released by Senate

CEBU, Philippines -

Riding his own vehicle, Binay was accompanied by Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia and former senator Rene Saguisag from the Makati City Hall to the Senate shortly after the hearing started at 10:40 a.m.

Binay was immediately ushered into the detention room of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms where he remained for three hours while the hearings were going on.

Also present in the Senate from the Makati mayor‘s camp were his sister Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, lawyer Claro Certeza and former senators Joker Arroyo and Saguisag.

At the start of the hearing, University of Makati president Tomas Lopez was cited in contempt by the subcommittee after failing to appear despite his earlier commitment to the Blue Ribbon mother committee last Monday that he would attend.

Pag-IBIG Fund president and chief executive officer Darlene Berberabe was also present for the first part of the hearing, where she answered some questions regarding the contract of Omni Security for her close-in security.

Berberabe was followed by Securities and Exchange Com- mission (SEC) chair Teresita Herbosa, who said that her office was still preparing the documents needed by the subcommittee. Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chair of the Blue Ribbon subcommittee, suspended the hearing to wait for Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who he said would be asking his own questions to Berberabe and Herbosa. Cayetano failed to show up as, according to his office, he was not feeling well. It took more than two hours before the hearing resumed. Then the issue of having Binay, Makati City administrator Eleno Mendoza and his predecessor Marjorie de Veyra appear before the subcommittee was tackled.

Certeza, counsel for Binay, pointed out that the Makati mayor complied with the order of the Blue Ribbon committee to be arrested and detained at the Senate but he did not want to testify at the hearings.

Certeza explained that the order clearly stated that Binay was to be detained at the Senate and it was up to him if he would appear before the hearing.

When Binay was fetched at the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, he reiterated that he was opposing the proceedings and told Balajadia to just drag him out.

Binay was escorted by Balajadia and one of his men to the session hall. But there was no sign of him struggling in any way.

It was only when Binay was at the second floor of the Senate, where the session hall is located, that the crowd around him started shouting and pushing him past the television camera crews and photographers waiting at the entrance.

Once he was seated, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV asked Binay if he was hurt in any way and if he needed any medical attention. This prompted even more shouting from Binay‘s supporters at the gallery and the suspension of proceedings. “There seems to be a script,” Trillanes was heard over the shouting. In a statement, Binay said that it was never his intention to

oppose the subpoena issued by the subcommittee. “Let me be clear that we are not opposing the Senate as an institution. What we are saying is that we have rights that have to be heard,” he said. “There is no reason for me to attend the hearings. I have explained my side,” he added. Pimentel noted there was a clear “clash of theories” between Binay and the subcommittee and advised the Makati mayor to seek arbitration from the courts.

“This is nothing personal. We are enforcing the processes of the institution. We followed our procedures as we understood them,” Pimentel said.

“Mayor, since we will respect your request that you will not be asked questions anymore, you lose your chance to give us your inputs on this subject matter, you’re free to go,” he added.

Prior to being picked up at his office at the 21st floor of the Makati City Hall just before 10 a.m. yesterday, Binay left his house in Barangay San Antonio at 7:05 a.m., accompanied by his four children, and visited the columbarium at the Sacred Heart Church where the cremated remains of his wife Kennely Ann are kept.

Former senators as Binay’s counsel?

Members of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee conducting the hearings on the alleged irregularities involving Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family would not admit this, but the presence of former senators Arroyo and Saguisag in yesterday’s hearing was hard to ignore.

In what capacity the two were there was where it got confusing, especially when Mayor Binay said they were part of his legal team while both former senators said something else completely.

Asked by reporters in a press conference after yesterday‘s hearing if Arroyo and Saguisag volunteered to be on his legal team, Mayor Binay said that they were, in light of the fact that they were long-time allies of his father, the Vice President.

However, Arroyo, who ended his last term as senator in 2013, said they were there not as lawyers for Mayor Binay but as members of the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity, Nationalism and Independence (MABINI), a group of human rights lawyers that also has the Vice President among its members.

He explained that MABINI is dedicated to human rights, civil liberties and any kind of oppression.

“Our role here is to prevent violation of the Constitution, violations of human rights, violations of civil liberties and the downgrading of governance,” he said.

“We have noticed that it is increasing and we are disturbed. What is happening now is that there is a tendency to for- get our rights and a tendency of government institutions to trample the rights of its citizens,” he added.

Arroyo said that they were present yesterday as observers with the aim of seeing for themselves if the hearings of the Blue Ribbon subcommittee were being conducted in a fair and proper manner.

He said the subcommittee’s decision to release Binay without much argument was “encouraging.” – With Jess Diaz, Jose Rodel Clapano, Mike Frialde