Binay has no property in Rosario, Batangas—assessor's office

Residents of Rosario in Batangas are familiar with Vice President Jejomar Binay's alleged property in their town but its Municipal Assessor's Office has no record of the former Makati mayor owning a piece of land in the area, GMA News' "24 Oras" reported on Wednesday.

 

"Wala hong nakapangalan," municipal assessor Guillerma Delen told GMA News' Emil Sumangil, when asked if Binay owned land in Rosario.

 

The assessor's office said it was willing to cooperate with the Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee to shed light on the issue of Binay's alleged ownership of a 350-hectare property in Rosario.

 

The 24 Oras report said the property that some residents identified as Binay's farm was under the name of Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corporation.

Records of the municipal assessor's office showed that Sunchamp owns 11,850 square meters of land in Barangay Maligaya. Its tax declaration of real property showed an assessed value of P30 per square meter.  It was bought from a certain Aurora Hidalgo in July 2014.

 

The report said Sunchamp also had a piece of property in Barangay Bayawang.

Some residents readily gave GMA News directions to the property when asked where Binay's farm was.

"Matagal na," a tricycle driver said when asked how long Binay had owned the property.

However, the residents that the news team met near the property were more evasive.

One of them said the team had to contact Tony Tiu, referring to businessman Antonio Tiu who owns Sunchamp.

According to the company's disclosures at the Philippine Stock Exchange, Sunchamp is engaged in the development of self-sustaining agri-tourism areas. It has real and enforceable rights over approximately 145 hectares of land in Rosario, Batangas.

It is one of the companies under the Greenergy Holdings Inc. owned by Tiu, who denied allegations made by Senator Antonio Trillanes at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the businessman had links to the Binay family.

350-hectare property?

 

At the Senate, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado presented before the Blue Ribbon Subcommittee on Wednesday photographs and aerial footage of a 350-hectare property in Rosario that he said was owned by Vice President Binay.

He testified at the Senate hearing, which is looking into allegations of corruption against the Binay family, that he had been to the area "more than a hundred times" since 1992 and was "101 percent" certain that it belonged to Binay.

 

About an hour ahead of the Senate inquiry, a spokesperson for Binay denied reports that the Vice President owned the Batangas property, which also came out in a daily newspaper.

 

Mercado said the Batangas property, allegedly worth P1.2 billion, had a mansion with an English formal garden, a pool fit for a resort, a 40-car garage and staff house, a farm of imported orchids, an air-conditioned piggery, a cock farm, a man-made lagoon, and other amenities.

 

To illustrate the size of the property, Binay's former ally said the Batangas property was six times the size of the 58-hectare Luneta Park, 10 times the size of the Araneta Center in Cubao, and half of the entire city of San Juan

 

Mercado said maintenance of the property could reach P4 million a month, excluding the salaries of security and other personnel whom he said are all paid by the Makati city government.

It is unclear if the Sunchamp property is part of the 350-hectare estate that Mercado described in the hearing.

Binay denial

 

Binay's camp early Wednesday denied that he owned property in Rosario.
 

In a press statement, Joey Salgado, Binay's media affairs chief, said they expect the Vice President's opponents to present before the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee proof of the said property.

 

"The detractors will show photos, aerial photos, of the said property, an amateurish attempt to do a repeat of the 'Purisima' expose," he said.

 

He said based on records, the lessor of the property is Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corp., operator of Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park.

 

Salgado noted that Sunchamp Park in Rosario, Batangas has been featured in several publications and TV programs.

 

"These photos would probably be the same photos to be peddled by the Vice President’s detractors in the sub-committee hearing," he said.

 

Salgado added that the JCB Farm which was established by Binay used to have leasehold improvements in a small portion of Sunchamp Park.

 

"It is unfortunate that legitimate businesses of private individuals are being dragged into this political circus," he said.

 

Salgado added that the Vice President has never denied owning JCB Farms and has included it in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth.

 

"The facilities and amenities mentioned by Mr. (Ernesto) Mercado like the mansion, pool and garden are not owned by the Binays or JCB Farms. These were facilities and amenities constructed by the original owner, Mr. Laureano Gregorio, in the area where the farm is a lessee," he said.

 

He added that as for Agri-Fortuna, Laureano Gregorio owns 97.4 percent of the shares. The other shareholders collectively own 3 percent. —NB, GMA News