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Senator Antonio Trillanes IV lashed out at Vice President Jejomar Binay for supposedly being behind the attacks on him, saying he has “no balls” to become president.
Trillanes alleged Binay was behind the controversy over his hiring of consultants, and scored the Vice President for refusing to attend the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee’s corruption probe.
“Ni wala nga silang bayag humarap sa aming imbestigasyon (They don’t even gave the balls to face our investigation),” he told reporters on Monday.
“Kay tatapang ‘pagka nag-o-operate. Pero ‘pag harapan na, wala naman. So, sabi ko hindi pwede maging presidente ang ganyan, walang bayag. (They’re brave when operating against me. But when asked to face us, they’re not. And so I say he cannot become president because he has no balls).”
Trillanes maintained that he violated no law in hiring consultants and never went beyond his office’s budget, citing the Commission on Audit’s findings that saw no irregularity in it.
He also denied that a newspaper report that said his houseboy was among the “consultants” he hired.
“Iyon pong mga pangalang ma-mention doon ay confidential agents na ginagamit ko sa ongoing Senate investigation laban kay Vice President Binay (The names mentioned there are confidential agents I used in the ongoing investigation against Vice President Binay),” Trillanes said.
Trillanes, along with Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Alan Peter Cayetano, has been leading a yearlong probe into various corruption allegations against Binay and his family.
Binay is the presidential candidate of the opposition party, United Nationalist Alliance.
From accusations that the Binays benefited from overpriced infrastructure projects in Makati City, the investigation has expanded to cover Binay’s alleged unexplained and hidden wealth.
The probe will continue on Wed, Aug 26, and Trillanes said there will be a new expose against the Binays.
He said the hearing will focus on how three companies allegedly run by Binay’s dummies cornered contracts worth P1 billion yearly for Makati city hall’s janitorial and security services.
Trillanes said new documents and witnesses will attend the probe.
“Makikita n’yo kung paano nila minanobra para ma-korner itong mga kontratang malalaki na ito (You will see their maneuverings to corner these big contracts),” said Trillanes.
Text: Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News
Photo: Gulfnews.com screengrab (Binay) and dzMM website screengrab (Trillanes)
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
