FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT Jejomar C. Binay and his son — dismissed Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” S. Binay, Jr. — were indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman with multiple counts of graft and falsification for “conspiring to rig” the procurement processes of the P1.3 billion Makati Science High School (MSHS) building.

In a statement issued by her office on Thursday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered the filing of charges against the two Binays in two separate resolutions she approved on Aug. 1.

In the resolutions, Ms. Morales indicted Binay, Sr. with four counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) and three counts of Falsification of Public Documents.

Binay, Jr., meanwhile, was ordered charged with four counts of violation of Section 3(e) of RA No. 3019 and three counts of Falsification.

Standing as co-accused of the Binays are Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Chairpersons Marjorie De Veyra and Eleno Mendoza, Jr. and several members of the body as well as contractors Virginia Garcia of Infiniti Architectural Works and Efren Canlas and Julius Ramos of Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation.

Responding to the indictment, Joey Salgado, spokesperson for the family, said the Ombudsman “has time and again disregarded her agency’s internal rules, due process and Constitutional rights to pursue her witch hunt” against the Binays.

“Her recent move comes as no surprise. The allegations have been answered, but apparently disregarded by the Ombudsman,” Mr. Salgado said in a statement.

“Former VP Jojo Binay and former mayor Junjun are confident that in a fair and impartial trial, they will be able to clear their names and dispute the baseless charges of a patently biased Ombudsman,” he added.

According to Ms. Carpio, “several irregularities” were noted by her office when the older Binay, who was then mayor of Makati, entered into a P17.37-million architectural and engineering consultancy services contract with Infiniti for the design of the MSHS building in Sept. 26, 2007.

The Ombudsman likewise observed that the project ”did not provide for a timeline or period within which the contractor must complete its services.”

The irregularities, as cited by the Ombudsman, are the following:

• “unjustified” resort to negotiated procurement instead of competitive bidding;

• non-compliance with the required posting of the invitation to bid;

• and several “misrepresentations” regarding the alleged bid negotiations, submission and opening of bids.

Ms. Morales also said the Binays “rigged” the procurement processes for the construction of the building through falsification of bidding documents, suppression of information to prospective bidders, and undue haste in the award of the contracts.

The procurement process of the project was divided into six phases from 2008 to 2013, covering the mayoralty terms of the two Binays. The Ombudsman said all construction contracts were awarded to Hilmarc’s Construction at a total net cost of P1.33 billion.

“Hilmarc’s was placed on higher footing than any potential bidders who… were deprived of sufficient chance to participate in the biddings. In fact, no other bidder participated in the public biddings for phases 2, 4, 5 and 6,” Ms. Morales said in her resolution.

“[At] the time of the commencement of the bidding process for phase 1 on 05 December 2007, no architectural design and engineering plans were provided to prospective bidders to apprise them of the details of the construction to be made so that they could submit their bids… This logically shows that the public biddings were nothing but a sham,” she added.

In October 2015, the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of the younger Binay from his mayoral post in Makati City over administrative liabilities in the alleged overpricing of a Makati building.

During the election campaign last year, the older Binay, who was a presidential candidate, accused the Ombudsman of being “plainly political tools” of the administration of former President Benigno S. C. Aquino III, whose party candidate was Manuel A. Roxas II. Both lost to now President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Mr. Aquino was also recently indicted by Ms. Morales for his “liability” in the botched operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in 2015 where 44 elite police officers died. — Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral

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