THE Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Vice President Jejomar Binay Sr. his son, former Makati City mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr., and several co-accused on seven counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and three charges of falsification of public documents.
In an 86-page resolution promulgated on December 13, 2024 but released only yesterday, the anti-graft court’s Special Fifth Division granted six separate demurrers to evidence filed by the defendants and ordered all 10 criminal cases dismissed on insufficiency of evidence.
Other than the Binays, also acquitted were Makati City Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairpersons Marjorie De Veyra and Eleno Mendoza, Jr.; BAC members Pio Kenneth Dasal, Lorenza Amores, Ulysess Orienza, Gerardo San Gabriel and Mario Badillo; BAC Secretariat members Giovanni Condes, Manolito Uyaco, Norman Flores and Ralph Liberato; Rodel Nayve of the BAC Technical Working Group; city accountants Leonila Querijero, Cecilio Lim III and Raydes Pestaño; city cashier Nelia Barlis; and private defendants Virginia Garcia of Infiniti Architectural Works, and Efren Canlas and Julius Ramos of Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation.
Associate Justice and Fifth Division chairperson Rafael R. Lagos penned the resolution, while Associate Justices Maryann E. Corpus-Mañalac and Kevin Narce B. Vivero concurred.
The Sandiganbayan held that the prosecution’s evidence, which were anchored on the testimonies of witnesses former senator Antonio Trillanes, engineer Mario Hechanova, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, and lawyer Renato Bondal, failed to prove the existence of conspiracy among the accused and the elements comprising graft and falsification cases.
Since the ruling delved into the merits of the government’s case, the grant of the demurrers to evidence has the effect of an outright acquittal, hence no longer subject to appeal due to the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.
The cases, all filed in 2018, alleged irregularities in the P17.45 million contract for the design of the 10-storey Makati Science High School building, with a four-storey dormitory, and the P1.336 billion contract for their six construction phases.
Inifiniti Architectural Works won the design contract while Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. was awarded the construction deals.
According to the Sandiganbayan, the body of evidence showed that the questioned release of payment to Hilmarc’s despite the supposed incomplete construction work on the structure was based on a misapprehension of facts. It pointed out that the said contractor was not the one who undertook Phase 7 or the finishing portion of the MCSHS building and dormitory.
“Therefore, there is absolutely no evidence that any of the accused had any dishonest design or corrupt intent as the motive for such, i.e. the receipt of monetary benefit or gain by any accused was not proven beyond reasonable doubt. The graft charges therefore should be all dismissed,” it ruled.
It said that while witness Hechanova had alleged that all the contract bidding for the project were “cooked” or already had a pre-determined winner, he admitted during cross-examination that his statements were “mere inferences” rather than based on his personal knowledge.
Mercado, a former political ally of the Binays, alleged that the former Vice President received 13 percent of the cost of all projects in Makati City as “kickback” but this likewise broke during cross examination after he admitted that he had not actually handed any cash nor had any participation in delivering money to Binay or any member of his family.
The court also noted that the testimony of Trillanes was the subject of a continuing objection of the defense on the ground that as a member of the Senate blue ribbon committee that conducted a hearing on the alleged anomalous transactions of the Makati City government, whatever information he acquired was merely secondhand.
“The adoption of the testimonies of the resource persons cannot be equated to the personal knowledge required under the Rules on Evidence and is violative of the constitutionally protected right of the accused to meet and cross-examine the witnesses against him, in this case, the resource persons themselves,” the Sandiganbayan said.
The Sandiganbayan ordered the defendants’ bail bonds cancelled and returned while the hold departure orders earlier issued against them were lifted and set aside.
