Plunder case filed vs VP Binay, Makati officials

(UPDATED) The Makati officials are accused of overpricing a parking building contract by more than a billion pesos

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) Vice President Jejomar Binay has been accused of plunder in relation to an over-priced multi-million-peso New Makati City Parking building contract.

In a 9-page complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, Renato L. Bondal and Nicolas "Ching" Enciso VI accused Binay of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in relation to the Anti-Plunder Law.

They said the contract for the parking building described in the complaint as the most expensive parking builidng in the entire country, if not the entire world was supposed to have amounted to only P245.56 million but was overpriced by more than P1.314 billion. The final contract price was pegged at P1.56 billion.

In their affidavit filed Tuesday, July 22, the complainants said Binay and his son, incumbent Mayor Erwin "Junjun" Binay, "violated every rule in construction manuals and government procedures in pushing for a project that was grossly overpriced and funded by various loans" which were irregularly passed through the City Council through supplemental budgets for 5 years.

An 11-story building with a roof deck, one-level basement parking and 5 floors of parking area with a total area of 31,928 square meters, the parking building, in effect, cost P48,859/sqm. An additional P350 million and P46.62 million were also appropriated for the transfer of Urban Development Department of Makati City to the new building, the complainants said.

Based on figures from the National Statistics Office, the average construction cost should have been only P7,691/sqm. This means that the Makati City Parking Building was over 6 times the official cost.

Mayor Binay rejected the complaint as fabricated and clearly connected to the 2016 elections but did not address the allegations raised against him and his father.

In a statement, the mayor only said that the Binays will face the complaint.

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Plunder case filed vs VP Binay, Makati officials