And
the corruption of the Makati Lord
Makati
City Hall Annex
Photo
Courtesy of www.hcc.com
The
inspection committee is out, and its official: the Makati City Hall
Parking building is just an ordinary building, there is nothing
special about the building1 and thus overpriced and graft ridden.
Experts on Monday agreed the Makati City Hall Building II is not an establishment that can be considered world class as Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. claimed before a Senate committee hearing last month.
At
the end of an inspection conducted by the Blue Ribbon subcommittee on
the alleged overpriced building, quantity surveyor Greg Jackson,
Danny Alano of the Philippine Institute of Architects, and licensed
real estate broker and consultant Federico Cuervo said the building
is just average.
Jackson
said the finishing and materials used on the building are standard
and that there was nothing unusual about the building or its
design.
Picture
courtesy of GMA
News Online
The
report further states:
He said the internal walls were made of gypsum boards anchored on metal frames which is lighter and fire-proof and usually used on partitions, while the cement floor was covered with vinyl.
Gypsum
boards and vinyl linoleum were cheaper than concrete walls and
granite, he said.
Alano
declined to comment if the building was overpriced, saying he has yet
to see the plan.
Cuervo,
meanwhile, said he expected to see a premium building but that was
not what he saw. “Definitely not... With that price, I expected a
premium building. It is not a premium building,” he said and
labeled the building as Class B.
He
also believed it was not a good idea to use the topmost floor as
storage area. The 11th floor of the Makati building houses several
storage rooms.
“It
is a very expensive floor to be used for storage,” he said, and
noted the need to further fix the ceiling.
Also
out is the statement of former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado that
he had “benefitted” from the construction of the building and
that so did Binay.
“Alam ninyo hindi ako talagang sinungaling. Pagtatawanan ako ng mga tao rito. Aamimin ko: Sa Phase 1 at Phase 2 nakinabang po ako. Kung ang vice mayor ay nakinabang, mas lalo na ang mayor. Kung ako ay nakinabang, imposibleng hindi nakinabang ang aking mayor,” Mercado said Tuesday during the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee on the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building 2.
Asked
if he has personal knowledge that Binay benefited from the project,
Mercado said, “'Yun naman po ang kalakaran.”
Mercado
also claims to have been close to Binay and that they were “together
from 1986 to 2010”. The interview comes to me as a rather candid
admission of irregularity.
These
reports are convincing enough to let me know that there was graft and
corruption that went into those buildings, that Binay undoubtedly was
able to receive pecuniary benefit from the building's construction.
Where
am I going with this? Simply it is not to vote for Binay in the
coming elections. Their family is so corrupt and trapo (“traditional
politician”) that I find it hard to imaginetht the Philippines will
prosper ad develop during his term. I wrote previously on the
Dasmagate
incident saying:
...our Constitution allows us to own property. It allows us to form corporations and other associations, such entities has the power to own property and to exercise the rights of ownership. The Dasmariñas Village Association clearly ratified its act of exercising its rights of ownership when it gave its letters of commendation to the Security Guards. Thus, the Village and its Agents (the guards) were clearly within their rights during the altercation.
Binay
was in the wrong. He was clearly showing blurred judgement,
misapprehension of facts and law. His was very shameless
behavior.
There
are other evidence of his corruption as the meme below explains.
But
see also LORD
OF MAKATI
I
must state however, that that incident involved his son, the current
Mayor of Makati. But let us apply the saying “the apple does not
fall far from the tree” in this case as part of a mental exercise
in arguing that Binay should not be the one we should vote for in
2016.
That
being said, the Binay clan is not as easy a target as the bumbling
and insecure Aquino. VP Binay has the political capital and the
competence to actually run a country compared as against the current
unwitting President. The fact remains though that evidence of his
corruption and that of his family is everywhere—from his friendship
with the Aquinos, to his property in Batangas, to the brattish and
vindictive way his son behaved.
Lastly,
it seems that Binay, if elected will extend favors and help to the
Aquino family when Pres. Aquino steps down (if he steps down) in
2016.2
Blanche
David-Gallardo writing for the Philippine Daily Inquirer
recounts a conversation she had with Kris Aquino while they were on
the same airplane flight from Hongkong to Manila. Blanche, who
introduces herself in the article as a retired journalist, asks Kris
about why she chose to endorse VP Jejomar Binay as her candidate for
the 2016 elections. The following selection is very telling of the
man who may be our next President:
“What is it about him that makes you think he can step into your brother’s shoes?” I persisted, like a dog worrying a bone. Perhaps, I was looking to be convinced. Maybe there is something in the man that I am missing, failing to see.
“I like him. It’s a personal choice!” she said.
“But why?” I insisted, and as she started to answer, I thought to further qualify my question: “Is Binay really your honest idea of the person best able to take over and carry on your brother’s daang matuwid legacy?”
“I was in the process of replying, and you interrupted me,” she threw back at me, apparently irked.
“Sorry. My mistake, carry on.”
“I like him. We like him. He’s helped us a lot. He is always there for us,” she said.
End of conversation.
What? That’s it? Is that really all there is to it? A matter of preference because of present/past favors? A matter of personal gratitude? With Butz Aquino’s announcing his and the other Aquino/Cojuangco clan members’ support, what could be more dismaying for the Filipino public?
The
Smear Campaign and the Biased Blue Ribbon
The Daily Tibune
reported on its September 1, 2014 issue “BLUE
RIBBON LOSES DIGNITY FOR BEING A BIASED FORUM”, it
further states:
The recent proceedings of the Senate blue ribbon committee trying to pin down Vice President Jejomar Binay on alleged irregularities including a supposedly overpriced construction of the Makati City hall parking building that started during Binay’s term as city mayor are proving to be biased.
.
. . The blue ribbon committee, it’s not the blue ribbon as it was
before. When you appear before the blue ribbon now, Binay or anyone
else, is turning out to be one-sided,” he [Sen. Joker Arroyo] said,
referring to the issue being demanded on the Vice President to submit
himself to the sub-committee chaired by Sen. Aquilino “Koko”
Pimentel III, which is hearing the issue on the Makati
building.
Is VP Binay a victim?
In a sense yes, he was simply targeted as early as now because he is
the only real Presidentiable as of this writing who has confirmed
that he will run in 2016. You don't see anybody else being smeared
and black propaganda being spread against like him.3 But in another sense, he isn't. These are called skeletons in the
closet for a reason: you do something bad and hide the evidence, it
can come back and bite you in the butt. One reaps what he sows, it
is simple really. And there are likely more skeletons to come in the
next couple of years, so stay tuned.
Winter is coming
Is the blue ribbon
committee being biased? Yes. And everything that went on in the
legislative branch in President Noynoy Aquino's administration has
been very very blatantly biased. From Merceditas Gutierrez to Renato
Corona to “Butch” Abad is biased. And indeed it will undermine
their credibility. But it shouldn't diminish the fact that the
buildings were overpriced as shown in the result of the independent
investigation of the building.
Let me therefore leave
you with the thought, is VP Binay really the one you want to hold on
to the coveted title of “Pang-gulo”?
Related
Posts:
Footnotes:
1. Save for the fancy rooftop garden.↩
2. So they can keep Hacienda Luisita of Course. Thus the Lord of Tarlac turns to the Lord of Makati and Batangas in his hour of need. Hmmm.↩ 3. With the possible exception of the Cayetanos, but it isn't much of a secret that the Cayetano and Binay clans hate one another so this is to be expected.↩
