CCTV shows Mayor Binay aides pulled out guns at Dasma Village gate

Published December 19, 2013 9:34pm

Makati Mayor Junjun Binay's bodyguards pulled out and brandished firearms in a Nov. 30 confrontation with private security personnel at the upscale Dasmariñas Village in Makati, CCTV footage of the incident showed.

Video of the incident, which was first published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer website, shows Mayor Binay alighting from his vehicle and talking with the village security guards preventing his convoy from exiting through the village's Banyan gate.

For security reasons, the village does not allow vehicles through the gate past 10 p.m., according to a report on GMA News' "24 Oras" on Thursday evening. But security protocol allows the city mayor and other top government officials special access to the gate. The guards apparently did not recognize Mayor Binay.

Later, one of Binay's aides is seen bringing out a pistol and a rifle. He can be seen in the video handing the rifle to another bodyguard before apparently loading the pistol.

The video appears to contradict public statements by the Binay camp that sought to downplay the incident, where Binay bodyguards were visibly preparing for a gunfight.

The confrontation nearly escalated as more village guards arrived to reinforce colleagues who were blocking the way of the mayor's convoy. The video shows more Binay bodyguards keeping the security guards from approaching.

The video also shows an unidentified woman alighting from another vehicle to check on what was happening. Senator Nancy Binay, the mayor's sister, was later named as one of the passengers in the convoy.

Minutes later, Makati City police personnel arrived at the scene and lifted the barrier blocking Binay's convoy of SUVs.

The video then shows police officers approaching the security guards and bringing the guards with them, the report said.

"Ang nakaka-frustrate, hindi kilala ng security guard si Mayor," Makati police chief Senior Superintendent Manuel Lukban said in the report.

The Inquirer report said the guards were arrested, but Lukban made clear that they were only brought along for "custodial questioning."

He said the guards were released after around an hour. The Inquirer report said the guards had been detained for four hours.

"'Yung mga firearms na dala nila, tinake custody ko for verification sa Camp Crame, 'yun kasi ang procedure natin," Lukban said.

Mayor Binay's spokesman, Joey Salgado, issued a statement Thursday that sought to dispute and criticize the Inquirer report.

“The Inquirer relied too heavily on a source who was conveniently not identified...Obviously, the source gave false and malicious information to the PDI,” Salgado said.

He also said the mayor opted not to force his convoy's way through the road gate barrier and waited for the police to arrive.

“The guards volunteered to go with the police. The video bears this out. This was also clarified by both the owner of the security agency, Mr. Ram Antonio, and the Makati chief of police in their interviews, but PDI opted to bury their statements,” Salgado added.

About the guns of the mayor's close-in security, Salgado has said the bodyguards were only preparing to protect Mayor Binay and Senator Nancy Binay, who was also in the convoy.

Salgado claimed the security aide also brought out weapons because the village guards were supposedly closing in on the convoy. But the CCTV footage showed the security guards staying near the guard house.

The Right Eight Security Agency Inc., the company guarding Dasmariñas Village, has apologized for the incident.

"The reason we apologized is that we have an SOP (standard operating procedure) for three government officials. We extend courtesy, for security reasons, that goes for the President of the Republic of the Philippines, the Vice President, and the mayor of the area that we are guarding," said Ram Antonio, owner of the Right Eight Security Agency.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, commenting on the controversy, said the Inquirer report was "distorted".

Meanwhile, Senator Binay called the report "malicious," adding that the issue has long been "settled" and "forgotten".

The Dasmariñas Village Association, through its secretary Oying Rafael, said the incident took place last November 30, which was three weeks ago.

The video of the incident uploaded on the Inquirer YouTube channel has had at least 152,916 views as of early Friday morning. It was uploaded Wednesday, Dec. 18. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/JDS/ELR, GMA News

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