Binay can kiss his presidential bid goodbye

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya 

Vice President Jejomar Binay’s 350-hectare luxury estate is so stunning and stupefying he can kiss his 2016 presidential plans goodbye.

The images shown of Binay’s sprawling property in Batangas during the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee assault many aspects of the ordinary citizens’ senses: sense of values, sense of propriety, sense of proportion.

To give the public an idea of how big 350 hectares is, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado said the Binay farm is equivalent to “six Luneta Parks, 10 Araneta Centers or even half the 700 hectare San Juan city.

Mercado, who was the Binay’s trusted bagman until their falling out before the 2010 elections, gave detailed description of the estate which boggles the mind of ordinary Filipinos: two mansions, one with a resort pool; two man-made lagoons, stockbreeding farm with more than a thousand cocks, a horse ranch, an aviary, and a 40-car garage.

It has a piggery which is air-conditioned, he said, because the Vice President’s wife, Dr. Elenita Binay, who had served also a mayor of Makati for one term (1998-2001), “did not want to smell the pigs and she did not want flies.”

Dr. Binay, who is an orchid lover, has a vast orchid farm which boasts of rare species from other countries.

But the pièce de résistance in the property, Mercado said, is a maze garden similar to the Kew Gardens in London.

Mercado said he was sent to London in 2007 upon the instruction of Mrs. Binay to see the Kew Gardens because she wanted one in their Batangas property.

Internet articles on the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in West London said it is one of the world’s most important botanical gardens. The whole domain encompasses an impressive 132 hectares with about 50,000 different species of plants .Some areas are formally laid out with flower beds or themed gardens; a large part of the domain is laid out in English style.

Mansions and other luxurious properties by public officials are offensive to the people because they are concrete and graphic images of greed and abuse or betrayal of public trust.

They may dismiss the overpricing of the P2.2 billion Makati Building2 and the alleged 13 percent cut of the Binays in all construction projects in Makati as “SOP” (Standard Operating Practice) in the government but if they see sprawling properties, mansions, man-made lakes and scenes that they see only in the movies, they are able to compare them with their own houses and lifestyle. The Binays’ Batangas property makes even the middle-class Filipinos’ houses look like a dog house.

Just imagine how one family cramped in a rented house in Pasay City feels looking at the Binays’ paradise.

In the 2000 exposé against then President Joseph Estrada, photos of the Boracay mansion and other houses of Estrada enraged the people more than the jueteng money and misuse of tobacco tax .

Mercado said the money used for the construction and maintenance of the Batangas farm came from Makati City construction projects. It’s the money of the people of Makati.

Mercado’s odious personality is not enough to diminish the shock value of the information he gave during the Senate hearing.

The public believes his revelation knowing very well that he is a shady character himself because “it takes one to know ione.”

Binay denies that he owns the Batangas property. It is reportedly owned by Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park headed by Filipino-Chinese businessman Antonio Tiu.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who is one of the three senators leading the investigation of Binay’s alleged ill-gotten wealth, accused Tiu of being Binay’s dummy.

At the Senate hearing, he presented the layered links of Sunchamp to the Binays: Tiu folded Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corp. in 2013 into a publicly listed corporation, the Greenergy Holdings Inc. The main shareholders of Greenergy are the Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corp., Earthright Holdings Inc., and the Three Star Capital.

Martin C. Subido is director, corporate secretary and compliance officer of Greenergy. He is also law partner of Makati Representative Abigail Binay, one of the Vice President’s daughters, at the Subido, Pagente, Certeza, Mendoza and Binay (SPCMB) law office.

Trillanes also said Earthright shares the same address as the SPCMB law office at the Value Point Executive Building 227 Salcedo Street in Legazpi Village, Makati City.

One interesting information that shows the ties that bind Tiu and the Binays: Tiu is also the CEO, president and chairman of AgriNurture Inc. (ANI), formerly known as Mabuhay 2000 Enterprises Inc., which was identified by Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Heidi Mendoza as the supplier of the overpriced hospital beds for the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) back in 2001 and 2002 when Mrs. Binay was mayor.

Plunder charges have been filed against the Vice President and his son, Makati Mayor Jun-jun Binay in connection with the overpriced Makati Building2.

Violation of the anti-dummy law is also being prepared against him in connection with the Batangas estate.

An opposition personality said recently that by the time the investigation of Binay’s ill-gotten wealth is completed, “pupulutin siya sa kangkungan.”

The frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race is now in the kangkungan.

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