Manila Times/Manila

Vice President Jejomar Binay has filed another libel complaint against former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado at the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office.
The vice president earlier filed a libel complaint against Mercado over the Boy Scouts-Alphaland deal.
Binay’s lawyer, Claro Certeza, said the case aims to “prove that Mercado was lying when he maliciously, falsely and feloniously accused the vice president of extorting (condominium) units from developers amounting to 60-70% of all the condo buildings in Makati.”
“This claim has been publicly belied by the developers themselves. It only shows that Mercado is a pathological liar and has zero credibility,” he added.
SM Development Corp, Megaworld Corp, Robinsons Land Corp, Rockwell Land Corp and Eton Properties released separate statements denying they gave condominium units to Binay or his family. “The series of libel complaints filed by the vice president shows his commitment to answer and refute the accusations against him in the proper forum in accordance with the rule of law,” Certeza said.
In the complaint-affidavit, Binay noted that Ariel Olivar —whom Mercado accused of being Binay’s dummy for his alleged unit in The Peak Tower — admitted that he received his instructions from Mercado himself.
During a Senate blue ribbon sub-committee hearing on January 22, Olivar said he never met Binay and it was Mercado who asked that the Peak Tower unit be placed under his name.
The unit under Olivar’s name is the same as the unit where Mercado’s former live-in partner, Racquel Ambrosio, was found dead
in 2002.