People want to hear VP Binay, not his gatecrashers

Now it is clear why Vice President Jejomar Binay does not want to relinquish the presidency of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP)—he has been president of the BSP for more than 20 years already, the longest-serving BSP president: He wants to grab the 57.7-hectare jamboree site that the BSP has leased (for one peso) from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). The lease expires next year.

Officials of UPLB revealed that there were at least three attempts by Binay’s allies in Congress to grab part of the 4,244-hectare Makiling forest reserve. The latest attempt was made by his daughter, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, who filed House Bill No. 6352, or the “Boy Scouts of the Philippines Charter of 2012.” There is no explicit mention of the Makiling property in HB 6352, but it has the same intent as two other bills.

One, HB 4765, “an act vesting the (BSP) with jurisdiction and administration over a parcel of land located at Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna, to be known as the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Jamboree Site…” was filed in 2001. The other, HB 3005, filed in 2005, contained similar provisions. Both bills were authored by former Marikina representative and now Mayor Del de Guzman, a known ally of Binay. One of these three bills was almost passed. It had been quietly railroaded to a third and final reading in the House when UPLB officials were tipped off by a House employee who happened to be a UPLB alumnus. If not for him, that part of the UPLB campus would now be another “Binay hacienda.”

Obviously, the ambition of Binay when he was still “poor” was to be an hacendero. He pursued that ambition as soon as he became a public official (as mayor of Makati).

Details of how he apparently acquired the 350-hectare “Hacienda Binay” in Rosario, Batangas, are slowly coming out in the investigation being conducted by the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee chaired by Sen. Koko Pimentel. Credit should be given to Pimentel for his courageous and expert handling of the investigation and to Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV for their dogged pursuit of the truth. If not for these three, the investigation would be over by now, and Binay and his family would be laughing as they enjoy the luxuries of Hacienda Binay in Batangas and the other Hacienda Binay in UPLB. The other senators seem afraid of Binay (who may, God forbid, become president of the Philippines), and are not participating in the investigation.

The pressure on the subcommittee to stop the investigation is daunting. Pimentel’s fair treatment of the resource persons is commendable. He constantly explains to the witnesses, “Para maging malinaw lang tayo,” or “Linawin lang natin” (Let’s make it clear) to avoid any impression of deliberately confusing or deceiving the public—as the Binay camp seems to be trying to do.

It would be pointless to stop the investigation of Binay who constantly refuses to directly answer the allegations against him and his family. The public should not be denied the right to be informed of the alleged illegal activities of the second highest official of the land, who wants to go even higher and become president.

It is comforting that Senators Cayetano and Trillanes, unlike the other senators, are as determined as Pimentel to expose the truth on how the Binays amassed their wealth. The efforts of the three senators should not be wasted since public money is involved and the hearings must continue until the truth comes out.

Binay is doing everything except face the Senate to defend himself. He goes everywhere delivering speeches during which he repeats, like a broken record, that the corruption allegations are “only politics,” but refuses to answer them point by point. His four mouthpieces are doing the same thing, creating plenty of noise only but saying nothing to explain how the Binays acquired their immense wealth.

Binay challenged Senator Trillanes to a debate and when the latter accepted it, he got cold feet and he is now trying to find excuses to avoid it. His mouthpiece, Rep. Toby Tiangco, claims he is trying to dissuade Binay not to go through with the debate.

Binay said that if it is the blue ribbon mother committee that would invite him he would attend the investigation. So the mother committee’ chair, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, sent him an invitation, but now he is hemming and hawing and has not indicated, until now, if and when he is going to the Senate investigation.

But while Binay refuses to show himself in the Senate, his two noisy mouthpieces, Tiangco and JV Bautista, tried to gatecrash the investigation last Thursday. The two have got it wrong: The senators wanted to hear their boss, not them, so they were quietly escorted out the door.

Mr. Vice President, the people want to hear you explain how you acquired your unexplained wealth. Don’t hide behind your mouthpieces. They only create noise, nothing else.