The Sandiganbayan has absolved former vice president Jejomar Binay and his son, former Makati City mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr., of graft and falsification of public documents charges in relation to the alleged anomalies in the construction of the P1.3-billion Makati Science High School (MSHS) building in 2007.

In a resolution promulgated on 13 December 2024 but made public only on 9 January, the anti-graft court's Special Fifth Division granted the demurrers to evidence filed by the father and son, along with their other 16 co-accused, citing "insufficiency of evidence" from the prosecution.

A demurrer to evidence is a pleading by the accused to dismiss the case brought by the defense due to lack of evidence. Once granted in a criminal case, it constitutes an acquittal.

Their alleged cohorts, who also got off scot-free, were Makati Bids and Awards Committee chairpersons Marjorie de Veyra and Eleno Mendoza Jr.; BAC members Pio Kenneth Dasal, Lorenza Amores, Ulysess Orienza, Gerardo San Gabriel, and Mario Badillo; BAC Secretariat members Giovanni Condes, Manolito Uyaco, Norman Flores, and Ralph Liberato; Rodel Nayve of the BAC Technical Working Group; city accountants Leonila Querijero, Cecilio Lim III, and Raydes Pestaño; city cashier Nelia Barlis; and private defendants Virginia Garcia of Infiniti Architectural Works, and Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation's Efren Canlas and Julius Ramos.

In 2017, then-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales indicted the Binays on seven counts of graft and three counts of falsification of public documents for allegedly rigging the procurement processes of the MSHS, which was originally set for a 10-storey building with a four-storey dormitory.

The 10-storey MSHS was awarded to Hilmarc for P1.34 billion, while the four-storey dormitory was awarded to Infiniti Architectural Works for P17.45 million. However, the Ombudsman said the awarding was attended by several irregularities, including, among others, the resort to negotiated procurement instead of competitive bidding and the non-publication of the mandatory invitation to bid.

In absolving the Binays and their co-accused, the Sandiganbayan argued that the prosecution's evidence utterly failed to prove all of the charges and heavily relied on the testimonies of witnesses — former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, engineer Mario Hechanova, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, and lawyer Renato Bondal — in a futile attempt to prove conspiracy and the elements comprising the graft and falsification cases.

Hechanova claimed that the bidding for the MSHS project was "cooked" or "niluto." But during cross-examination, he admitted that his statements were all mere inferences and thus not based on his personal knowledge.

Mercado, a former Binay ally turned rival, alleged that Binay Sr. received 13 percent worth of "kickbacks" in every project in Makati. But he later revealed during cross-examination that he had not actually seen any cash nor had he supposedly delivered anything directly to Binay Sr. during his stint as Makati mayor, as well as his family.

According to the Sandiganbayan, Mercado's testimony that the "cash" inside the bags he supposedly delivered from Morales was only a product of his "imagination and speculation."

"It was revealed that all of them lacked personal knowledge of the facts constituting the charges against the accused and had only been speculating on their own about what transpired in the procurement of the MSHS Building project," the court stated.

Given the foregoing, the Sandiganbayan ruled, "There is absolutely no evidence that any of the accused had any dishonest design or corrupt intent as the motive for such, i.e., the receipt of monetary benefit or gain by any accused was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The graft charges, therefore, should be dismissed."

To recall, the construction of the MSHS underwent rigorous scrutiny in the Senate back in November 2014 over allegations that it was overpriced by P862 million, with the Binays contending the project was just aboveboard.

In January last year, the family's matriarch, Elenita Binay, was also cleared of graft and malversation charges by the Sandiganbayan involving the alleged anomalous purchase of medical equipment worth P9.9 million in 2001 during her time as Makati mayor.