53 accounts in 4 banks _ inquirer opinion

5/18/2015 53accountsin4banks|InquirerOpinion

http://opinion.inquirer.net/84935/53accountsin4banks 1/18

SHARES

GET REAL

53 accounts in 4 banks

3:47 AM | Saturday, May 16th, 2015

Solita Collas-Monsod @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer

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The Republic of the Philippines, represented by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), filed the exparte (in the interest of an interested outside party) petition for the issuance of a freeze order on 224bank accounts and 18 investments and insurance policies owned by Vice President Jejomar Binay,certain members of his immediate family, and close associates. This arose out of a letter, signed by theOffice of the Ombudsman on Nov. 18, 2014, requesting the AMLC secretariat to do so, plus what cameout of the Senate hearings.

The petition was filed on May 7 and the Court of Appeals order came out on May 11. Much too fast?No, a petition of this nature should actually have been acted on within 24 hours, because accounts canso easily be closed, or deposits withdrawn in the blink of an eye. The ponente was Justice Ricardo R.Rosario, and the other members of the Court of Appeals First Division that issued the freeze orderwerePresiding Justice Andres B. Reyes Jr. and Justice Edwin Sorongon.

The freeze order is for six months, within which time charges have to be brought, or the freeze isautomatically lifted. As of now, the freeze order is based on the existence of probable cause that thesedeposits are related to violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and are unlawful activitiesunder the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001.

Of those 224 accounts, how many were actually VP Binays? I counted 19, of which seven are jointly

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held with othersfive with his wife Elenita, and two with his finance man, Gerry Limlingan. These 19accounts are in BDO Unibank (4, including the 2 with Limlingan), Land Bank (2), Metrobank (1), SecurityBank (4), BPI (5, held jointly with Elenita), PNB (2), and RCBC (1). His son, Mayor Junjun Binay, has eightaccounts in five different banks. Together, they account for 27 of the 224 accounts. Abigail Binay andNancy Binays accounts were not mentioned, simply because they were not named in either the Senatehearings or the charges with the Ombudsman. So, whose are the 197 accounts that the AMLC wantsfrozen?

As far as I can make out, 53 of those are in the name of Eduviges Duenas Baloloy (not including one inher husbands name), held singly (29) or jointly (11) with Gerry Limlingan, the rest with Limlingans staffor other persons whose names come out very often in the stories. So the question arises: Who isEduviges Duenas Baloloy? She is described as the long-time secretary of VP Binay, where she holds theposition of executive assistant 4, with an annual income, as of December 2013, of P697,658 (starting atP266,948 in 2006).

The story gets more interesting. How come, with that kind of a salary, she has 53 accounts in fourdifferent banks? Not only that, the deposits made in those accounts were humongous. The smallestwas P550,000 and the largest was P100,000,000 (that is not a typographical error). I am sorry I didnthave time to get the average, and I will do so at some point. There is still more: the AMLC lists downother large transactions in which she appears to have placed funds in investment managementaccounts. The transactions listed by the AMLC take more than seven legal-size pages. And after theSenate hearings started, both Baloloy and Limlingan started selling securities, making inter-accounttransferssame bank, pre-terminating their time deposits, investment placements, encashments ofchecks and withdrawing the bank deposits.

Does it not smell of a dummy situation? Ernesto Mercados testimony in the Senate hearings, aboutgiving several bayong of money to Baloloy from the 13-percent commission on Makati projects,seems to have hit the nail right on the head.

If Baloloy had 53 of the 224 accounts, she pales in comparison with Limlingan. Either singly or jointlywith his staff, Limlinganaccounted for the rest of the accounts, except for those six held by Ernesto Mercado (the AMLC did notspare him from their examinations), and for the 19 held by Chinese-sounding names like Tiu, and Leeand Chong, allegedly other dummies as well. If my arithmetic is correct, Limlingans deposits numberedabout 120, with enormous amountsbeing deposited and withdrawn. Considering that Limlingans avowed income (which is what he toldthe banks) was about P30,000 a month, or P360,000 a yearless than Baloloys incomethemagnitude of thosedeposits fairly scream Dummy. No wonder he cannot be found.



How many readers remember the Senate hearings on Alphaland, where Mario Oreta and RobertoOngpin were all holier than thou, saying that the Boy Scouts of the Philippines were not in the least bitdisadvantaged by the Binay decision to sell them the Makati property of the Boy Scouts? Again, itseems that Mercados testimony may be the correct version. Because it turns out that 14 of theLimlingan accounts were held jointly by a Mario Alejo Oreta. Why should Alphalands president (or vicepresident) be involved in any Limlingan account? Again, there is that awful smell.

It seems that former vice mayor Mercado and his charges are being vindicated by the AMLC report. Ihave only one question: If the Republic of the Philippines has filed a case against the Vice President ofthe Philippines, shouldnt he at least resign from his Cabinet position? One only has to read the petitionof the AMLC, to realize that there is now hard evidence against him. He should stop making aspectacle of himself, and answer the charges as best he can.

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NongObieta TopCommenterManila,Philippines214followers***OfcourseBinaywillneverresignfromthecabinet,ashispositiontheregiveshimsomeauthoritytocontinuewithhisplanstoplunderthecountryuntilitwillhavebeenplundereddry.Instead,thequestionreallyshouldbe"whyisPresidentAquinonotfiringBinayfromthecabinet?"ItisunbelievablethatallthistimeAquinohasallowedBinaytoremaininthecabinet,withallthecharges,ANDthehardevidence,supportingthosecharges.Makesonetrulywonder.ReplyLike FollowPostMay16at8:28am

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FernandoLansangan TopCommenterWorksatHallmarkCardsYanang$100millionquestionnadapatitanongsaPresident,kungbakithangangayonayayawnyangalisinsiVPbinaysacabinet.Anokayaangrasonnya?DahilkunginihintaylangniPNoynamagresignsiVPbinay,yunangmalabongmangyari.........heheheReplyLike May16at10:18pm3

SemperParatus TopCommenterBinayisaverycloseandloyalfriendtotheAquinofamily.ItwasCoryAquinowhoputBinayasMakatiOICinthefirstplace.TumatanawlangngutangngloobsiPnoy.ReplyLike Yesterdayat4:37pm2

53 accounts in 4 banks _ inquirer opinion

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