MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Vice President Jejomar Binay met with an official from the Philippine Catholic Church on Tuesday, November 4, in the midst of the biggest corruption scandal to hit him. 

Binay arrived at the Archbishop’s Palace in Intramuros, Manila, decked in a Boy Scout’s uniform a little past 2 pm Tuesday where he met Manila Auxillary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, who is also the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)’s chairman for the committee on public affairs. 

According to Binay’s media team, around 16 people, including Pabillo and Binay, were part of the closed-door meeting. 

He did not grant a media interview after the two and a half hour meeting. 

As expected, Pabillo and Binay talked about the controversy surrounding the Vice President, but not before discussing housing issues before several non-governmental organizations who were also present in the meeting, said a CBCP source.

Binay chairs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. 

The Vice President faces plunder charges and is at the center of a months-long Senate probe into allegations of corruption. The Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee, which leads the investigation, is set to hold another hearing two days from now. 

The same CBCP source said Binay presented his “counter-argument” to the controversies surrounding him. 

Pabillo earlier met several “whistleblowers” in the probe on Binay – former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, Renato Bondal, and Nicholas Enciso. Enciso and Bondal filed the plunder charges against Binay.  

After the meeting with the “whistleblowers” became public, Pabillo also said the Vice President was welcome to air his side of the story. 

Mercado has accused Binay of amassing ill-gotten wealth by rigging bids and getting kickbacks from Makati City projects. The former Binay ally also said the Vice President hid his wealth by “owning” businesses and properties through dummies. 

According to an article posted on the CBCP website, Pabillo was joined by the NBN-ZTE “whistleblower” Jun Lozada and “some nuns.” 

“We want to know their points… because we are searching for the truth,” Pabillo was quoted by the CBCP article as saying. During the meeting, Pabillo said Mercado revealed information yet to be discussed in the Senate probe “for the lack of evidence.” 

Binay has been invited to attend the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearings twice – the first time by the subcommittee chaired by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III and a second time by committee chairman Senator Teofisto Guingona III. 

He rejected the subcommittee’s hearing, dismissing it as a “kangaroo court” that has already pre-judged him. Instead, he challenged one of the senators leading the probe, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, to a one-on-one debate. 

Binay’s camp has rejected the November 22 deadline set by Trillanes, referring to the deadline as a bullying tactic of the senator.

Binay has also criticized the probe as merely politically-motivated. 

Guingona has invited Binay to the upcoming November 6 hearing, which will be heard by the “mother committee.” Binay has yet to announce whether he will be attending that hearing. – Rappler.com