Instead of becoming stale with the passing of time, the Dasmariñas Village incident continues to be a hot topic in social media and newspapers.
If Vice President Jojo Binay, who defended his children’s (Mayor Junjun and Senator Nancy) behavior, thinks that the incident will have been forgotten in 2016 when he’s expected to run for the presidency, he’s wrong.
In the Inquirer online “hot reads,” here is the lineup of the top 10 stories from Dec. 8 to Jan. 6 in their order of importance:
1. 3 Dasma guards who stopped Binay convoy held, freed
2. Winnie Monsod: Guards were correct, Binay was wrong
3. Dasmariñas defends guards
4. VP Jojo Binay’s ‘death warrant’
5. The Binays of Makati
6. VP Binay: My son deserves courtesy
7. Romualdez: Rescue efforts too slow
8. Zamboanga mayor, 3 others shot dead at Naia 3
9. Mayor Binay deserved some courtesy, says Vice President
10. 18 killed after bus falls from Skyway—police
Note, dear readers, that numbers 1 to 6 and then number 9 are all about the Dasmariñas Village incident.
The incident will continue to haunt the Binays—the vice president, the Makati mayor, the senator and Rep. Abigail—for years to come.
For those who haven’t read or heard about the incident, here’s a brief summary:
Mayor Junjun and Senator Nancy were on board a four-vehicle convoy when they were not allowed to exit the posh village’s Banyan Gate which was already closed for the night.
Junjun got down from his vehicle and confronted the security guards at the gate.
“Kilala ba ninyo ako (Do you know me)?,” the mayor said to the guards.
One of their bodyguards, as shown on the footage taken by a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera, cocked a pistol in front of the guards.
Policemen later arrived in a patrol car arrived and lifted the gate’s barrier.
Reports about the incident said the guards, who stood up to the Binay convoy, were “invited” to the police station where they were detained for four hours.
A day after the news report came out in the Inquirer, Vice President Binay defended his son, the mayor, saying he deserved “a little courtesy.”
* * *
In Monday’s letters to the editor, three readers made comments about the incident.
I agree with Claude Lucas C. Despabiladeras who said that in criticizing the Binays, “must we also poke fun at their dark complexion?”
People who criticized the Binays should stick to issues and not their looks.
Dr. Carlo Arcilla, professor of geosciences at the University of the Philippines (UP), found Mayor Binay “always respectful as he ended his comments with ‘po.’”
Perhaps the mayor was just trying to impress the professor with his “mild” manner.
Early last year, Mayor Binay got into a quarrel with an Israeli businessman over a parking slot at the Rockwell mall.
“Don’t you know me? I own Makati,” Binay was quoted by witnesses as saying.
The Israeli businessman left the country after a week.
Still another comment came from Bobby Brillante, but his comment is suspect because he is a political enemy of the Binays.