VP Binay’s wife gets third and last approval needed for travel to US

(Updated 4:53 p.m.) Former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay, can now push through with her trip to California in the United States after the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division granted her request on Thursday.

The anti-graft court’s Fifth Division and Third Division earlier gave her the go-signal to travel not earlier than May 1 and be back to the country not later than May 22. Mrs. Binay, however, has yet to post the required P420,000 travel bond ordered by the Third Division, according to a court staff.

Mrs. Binay said in her motion that she will be staying with her sister, Minda Sombillo Weinreich at 130 Stockbridge Avenue, Alhambra, and also intends to visit her doctor, Dr. Robert Klapper at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

In its decision released Thursday, the Fourth Division said that Mrs. Binay’s itinerary should only cover California and not any other place.

She must also personally present herself to the division clerk of court, five days after her return, together with her passport and other papers indicating the stamps of her departure from and entry into the Philippines.

If Mrs. Binay fails to undertake the travel abroad, she must still, within five days from the expected return, present herself to the clerk of court with photocopies of pages of her passport which must not bear any stamp of departure from or entry into the Philippines during the period.

The court said should Mrs. Binay should also file her written compliance with the order not later than 10 days from the date of her expected return on May 22.

Mrs. Binay should also post a travel bond amounting to P90,000 but since she has yet to withdraw the travel bond she posted in her previous authorized trips abroad, the same would be credited to her travel bond.

Mrs. Binay needed to secure the approval of the three divisions prior to her travel because of cases she is facing before them.

She is facing one count of graft before the Fourth Division in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of P13.25-million worth of panel partitions, accessories and assorted pieces of furniture for the Makati City Hall in 2000 during her incumbency as Makati City mayor.

She also faces two counts of graft before the Fifth Division also in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of office partitions and furniture worth P21.5 million in 1999 and P21.7 million in 2000.

At the Third Division, Mrs. Binay faces malversation and graft raps over the alleged anomalous purchase of P45-million worth of hospital beds and medical supplies also during her incumbency as the mayor of Makati City in 2000 and 2001. — NB/RSJ, GMA News