According to a report on “24 Oras” on Monday, the statement came after former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay, pointed out that Mendoza failed to mention that the audit findings she presented were already dismissed by the Sandiganbayan in 2011.
At the hearing on Thursday, Mendoza presented the findings of a special audit she conducted in 2001 on the transactions of the Makati government during the term of Mrs. Binay from 1998 to 2001.
COA audited on hospital equipment purchased for Ospital ng Makati and office furniture bought by the city.
Mendoza explained that the dismissal of the case filed against Mrs. Binay did not invalidate her entire report. Other cases which stemmed from her audit findings are still ongoing, she said.
“Masyadong encompassing kung sabihin nating the report was discredited… I did not mislead the public because I believe na hindi naman ‘yung entire findings ang na-dismiss,” Mendoza stated.
Mrs. Binay was cleared of liability in the Ospital ng Makati purchases in 2011 but the case was re-filed by the Ombudsman this year. She is also facing a P13-million graft case before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division for alleged irregularities in the purchase of office furniture.
Grateful for offer of extra security
Mendoza meanwhile said she is grateful to Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago for asking to have her placed under the Witness Protection Program. Santiago has also asked Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II to increase police protection for Mendoza.
Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, lawyer Renato Bondal, and Barangay Olympia, Makati chairman Nicholas Enciso VI —other witnesses in the probe— were given “full Witness Protection Program coverage” upon the recommendation of the Senate.
Meanwhile, Senator Teofisto Guingona III, Senate blue ribbon committee chairman, is expected to announce the decision on the motion of Makati Mayor Junjun Binay for the committee at large — and not the subcommittee headed by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III — to decide on a jurisdictional challenge in the probe.
Mayor Binay stressed that the Senate should not hold hearings on the alleged overpricing in the Makati City Hall Building II project because the Ombudsman has the jurisdiction over the case. — Trisha Macas/JDS, GMA News
