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Friday, March 29, 2024

Ombudsman asked to probe two councilors

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Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay on Wednesday said she is set to file a case with the Office of the Ombudsman against two city councilors for alleged corruption and maintaining ghost employees in their offices.

Binay said she has obtained written statements from witnesses confirming the alleged corrupt practices of Councilors Ferdinand Eusebio and Divine Jacome. She added similar written statements are expected against other councilors.

Binay made the statement a day after Eusebio announced that 13 of the 16 elected councilors have declared their support for her brother, former mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay, in the city’s mayoral post in the May 2019 elections.

Eusebio said there was “an overwhelming clamor” for the young Junjun Binay’s return to Makati City Hall.

“If you go around the barangays and talk to Makati residents and the different sectors, you will discover that everyone misses Mayor Junjun,” he said.

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But the incumbent Mayor Binay said “corruption is behind the decision of several councilors to break away. They learned that I have received credible information on their nefarious activities, so they opted to create political drama as a smokescreen.”

“They are using the good name of my father Vice President Jojo Binay to cover their wrongdoing,” she added.

“They knew that I was the one who ordered the investigation about their ghost employees. And now I have written statements from witnesses attesting to this. I will endorse this matter to the Ombudsman for appropriate action,” the mayor said.

The city chief executive confirmed that Eusebio and Jacome, along with several others, are urging her brother Junjun to run against her in the May 2019 elections. 

She expressed hope, however, that Junjun “will do what is best for Makati and our family and not run,” she said.

According to Mayor Binay, the majority councilors have been holding the legislative agenda of the city government hostage to politics.

“Due to their change of support, vital matters pending in the City Council are being used as leverage by the councilors against me. But they should realize that what they are doing is a gross disservice to our Makatizens,” she said.

The mayor pointed to Eusebio as the ringleader and instigator of the breakaway group. Eusebio is known in Makati as the right hand man of Junjun Binay.

Eusebio has been accused by a major contractor of demanding kickbacks, gifts, and favors during the term of former mayor Junjun, Mayor Abby said. This includes forcing the contractor to construct a building in Makati worth P20 million for free.

The mayor added that the contractor, Armando Khong Hun, has filed a formal complaint against Eusebio before the National Bureau of Investigation for alleged violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

She added that Eusebio owns a stable of expensive racehorses.

In the case of Jacome, the mayor said several witnesses have come forward against the councilor. They said around 20 individuals were designated as Community Affairs Assistants II, but the ATM cards of these individuals are in the possession of the councilor.

The mayor appealed to Makatizens with information on the corrupt activities of councilors to come out in the open. She assured them of her personal support and protection.

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