Businessman Antonio Tiu was placed on the defensive end yesterday
when three senators leading the investigation of the Makati City Hall
Building II took turns on trying to discredit his claim of ownership of
the Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park in Rosario, Batangas,
First they tried to discredit the one-page memorandum of agreement
(MOA) presented by Tiu, which Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III,
chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-panel, described as a document
not even notarized and submitted to the panel nearly 30-minutes after
the hearing started at 9 a.m.
But Tiu told members of the panel that the one-page MOA between him
and Laureano Gregorio, purported original owner of the 150-hectare farm
in Batangas, is “standard practice.”
“This is a standard practice. This is not the first time I engaged on
a one-page agreement,” Tiu told the sub-panel at the resumption of the
Senate’s investigation into the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall
Building 2.
Tiu is allegedly one of the persons being used by Binay as a dummy to
hide ownership of his properties. Tiu has denied the allegation and
insisted he owns the place, which he said costs P446 million, and has
paid P11 million for the usufruct.
Vice President Jejomar C. Binay has also denied owning the property, claiming he has already divested himself of ownership.
But the Senate hearing was briefly interrupted when the Vice
President’s spokesmen – interim United Nationalist Alliance (UNA)
president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, and UNA interim
secretary-general JV Bautista – were barred from presenting proof that
former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado was hospitalized.
In the previous hearing, Mercado had challenged Binay and his allies
that they can move that his statements be stricken off the records if
they can show proof he was lying about having been hospitalized.
“If the Vice President can show proof that I was hospitalized while
in the Philippines, burahin nila lahat ng aking testimonya. Ibig sabihin
ako ay sinunggaling,” Mercado had said in an October 22 hearing.
Taking up the challenge, Tiangco and Bautista tried to present the
document but Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano intervened,
saying they are not allowed to speak because they were not duly invited
to appear before the sub-committee probe.
Even without authority from Pimentel, Bautista continued to speak in behalf of the Vice President.
This prompted Cayetano to order the Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms
(OSAA) to stop Bautista and Tiangco from speaking before the microphone,
and Pimentel suspended the proceedings, and then talk to Tiangco and
Bautista regarding their sudden participation.
But even after a short talk with Pimentel, members of the OSAA
escorted both Tiangco and Bautista out of the Senate session hall.
An irate Bautista told an OSAA member who was called to escort them: “Huwag mo akong itulak.”
At the continuation of the hearing, Cayetano made a Power Point
presentation, showing Instagram photos and posts of Joanna Marie Blanca
Binay, daughter of the Vice President.
In one Instagram post, the younger Binay referred to the swimming
pool inside the property as “our place in Batangas.” Another photo
showed them having “dinner in Batangas.”
Another photo also showed an Instagram update showing her father
holding a microphone, with the caption: “it’s Karaoke time!!” The date
is December 25, 2012.
Cayetano said the posts and photos are indications that the controversial property is owned by the Vice President.
“Nag-videoke lang, may-ari ka na? (Having a videoke session already
means ownership of the property?),” Binay’s spokesman for political
concerns Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla asked.
“The Vice President and his family have been open about using the
facilities and visiting Rosario. For one, Dr. Binay has a flower farm
there. But these photos, like previous photos shown by Sen. Cayetano,
are not proof of ownership,” Remulla stressed.
At the hearing, Tiu insisted owning the property and denied he is a
dummy of the Vice President. He said the property costs P446 million,
and has paid P11 million for the usufruct.
But Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes, who was invited
to the hearing, told the committee that as far as he knows, Tiu was only
leasing the farm estate.
Delos Reyes said that was what Tiu told him during their conversation
when he was invited at the launch of Sunchamp in August, 2014.
Despite his claim, Tiu failed to convince Pimentel, Cayetano, and
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who noted the document does not even include a
timetable of the supposed schedule of payments for the property.
“You told us a story so you have to back it up with paper trail. This
is it? You gave us a one-page agreement? You paid twice, can you give
us proof of payment? Some tax declarations were surrendered to you for
sure,” Pimentel told Tiu.
Trillanes reiterated he believes Tiu is “part of the cover-up.”
“One week has passed, you’ve been all over the radio saying you have
the documents. Now you have this, again you’re pretending it was not
requested. You have no time anymore as far as I am concerned,” Trillanes
pointed out.
The sub-panel invited Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim
Henares to the hearing to assess the document Tiu submitted for tax
analysis.
Cayetano, for his part, moved to have Gregorio cited for contempt for repeatedly failing to appear before the Senate.
“He’s an essential resource person so if we don’t accept his
showcase order, I’m now putting on record that I’ll move that he be
held in contempt and an order of detention be issued,” Cayetano said in
making the manifestation.
Pimentel then directed Gregorio and other invited resource persons
who refuse to attend the probe to issue a show-cause order explaining
their absence in the hearing.
Mercado, Binay’s erstwhile ally, was the one who claimed the property belongs to the Vice President.
