NO GO Surrounded by supporters, newly suspended Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay makes his way to Makati City Hall, where he tells reporters he will continue to hold office until all legal remedies have been exhausted. The Ombudsman has ordered the six-month suspension without pay of Binay and 21 other city officials over alleged irregularities in the P1.2-billion construction of the parking building in Makati. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines–Despite the Office of the Ombudsman’s order suspending him for six months without pay, a defiant Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay said he would continue serving as head of the city until he had exhausted all available remedies.
Besides the mayor, the Ombudsman also ordered the suspension of 21 other City Hall officials in connection with the irregularities in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II.
“I will continue discharging my duties as mayor until all legal remedies have been respected. While I may belong to the opposition, I am still entitled to my rights like any Filipino citizen,” said Binay in a press conference at Makati City Hall on Wednesday afternoon as his followers started massing outside preparing to dig in.
Binay said his legal counsels had filed a petition for certiorari in the Court of Appeals questioning the Ombudsman order.
Claro Certeza, a lawyer of the mayor, said Binay was asking for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).
“And we believe that until such time that our prayer for TRO is decided upon, they cannot remove Mayor Binay from his post as he is duly elected by hundreds and thousands of Makati residents,” Certeza said.
Immediately executory
Citing Section 27 of Republic Act No. 6770, or the Ombudsman Act of 1989, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said the resolution was “immediately executory.”
“Notwithstanding any motion, appeal or petition that may be filed by respondents seeking relief from this order, unless otherwise ordered by this office or by any court of competent jurisdiction, the implementation of this order shall not be interrupted within the period prescribed,” Morales said.
“In case of delay in the disposition of these cases due to the fault, negligence or any cause attributable to respondents, the period of such delay shall not be counted in computing the period of suspension,” she added.
Morales ordered Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to promptly implement the order and inform her office of his compliance within five days.
If the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) implemented the order, the mayor would inform the department that there was the pending petition and a prayer for a TRO, according to Certeza.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was succeeded by his son as Makati mayor, was not suspended since he was not among those named respondents in the administrative cases filed by the Ombudsman special panel of investigators.
Morales signed the suspension order on Tuesday, but it was officially released to the public only on Wednesday.
The suspension order came just four days after the Ombudsman announced that it had approved the preliminary investigation against the Binays and their coaccused after its panel of special investigators filed cases for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service.
Wearing T-shirts with the text “I heart Junjun” and chanting “Binay!Binay!”, about a thousand supporters of Binay from various barangays (villages) in Makati gathered at the City Hall quadrangle despite the pouring rain to express their disappointment with the Ombudsman’s order that was released Wednesday.
They have set up tents outside City Hall where a program was held until late afternoon.
The Binay supporters said they would stay overnight at the quadrangle. The mayor will also spend the night in his office on the 21st floor of City Hall, according to Makati spokesman Joey Salgado.
Two conditions met
In approving the preventive suspension of Binay and other City Hall officials, the Ombudsman said the complaint complied with the two conditions as stated under RA 6770.
First, it said the evidence of guilt against the accused should be strong.
Second, the cases should involve complaints for dishonesty, oppression or grave misconduct or neglect in the performance of duty; warrant removal from office; and that the continued holding of office of the accused may influence the outcome of the cases.
“The first requisite is present in these cases as shown by the supporting evidence attached as annexes to the complaint,” Morales said.
Evidence
The pieces of evidence against Binay et al. included affidavits of the supposed losing bidders and members of Makati City Hall’s bids and awards committee (BAC), who all supported the allegations of corruption that attended the project.
The complainants also presented several documents, including vouchers, checks and receipts, pertaining to the parking building’s construction.
Morales said “all the circumstances enumerated” in the second condition were also met by the complaint.
“If proven true, they constitute grounds for removal from public service under the Revi sed Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service,” she said.
“Moreover, since the respondents’ respective positions give them access to public records and influence on possible witnesses, (their) continued stay in office may prejudice the cases filed against them.”
‘Special treatment’
Binay appealed for fair and equal treatment from concerned government agencies as he remained hopeful that the courts would be impartial in dealing with the cause “even if the Ombudsman has not done so.”
He slammed the “apparent haste” of the suspension order, calling it a “special express suspension” similar to other instances when he and other members of the Binay family were given “special treatment.”
“Our family is really given special treatment. Special Senate hearing. Special COA audit. Special panel of the Ombudsman and now a special express suspension,” he added.
Binay said he had expected the suspension order, saying the Ombudsman’s special panel of investigators included prosecutors affiliated with Simeon Marcelo, former Ombudsman and law partner of Nonong Cruz.
“They are not only lawyers of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas but are also known as his operators,” the mayor said, noting that the DILG was the implementing agency of the suspension order.
“Just like in the Senate, we were not given the chance to properly explain and answer all the allegations against us,” he said.
Binay said he was expecting “the lies and unjust persecution” against his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and the family to continue until the 2016 elections.
“Their only aim is to hinder the goal of my father to serve as the head of this country,” the mayor added.
Kickbacks
The suspension order did not cite the supposed kickbacks that the Vice President, his son and their coaccused allegedly received as claimed by former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado.
Instead, it only mentioned the awarding of the parking building’s “design, architectural and engineering services” without public bidding to Mana Architecture & Design Co.
It also cited the “release of periodic payments” to Mana “without its corresponding deliverables and other procurement irregularities.”
The Ombudsman likewise said the contract was awarded to Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. which used bogus bid documents.
Besides Binay, also named in the order were former City Administrator Marjorie de Veyra, city legal officer Pio Kenneth Dasal, city budget officer Lorenza Amores, former Central Planning Management Office (CPMO) chief Virginia Hernandez;
Ex-city engineer Mario Badillo, former city accountant Leonila Querijero, former acting city accountant Raydes Pestaño, city accountant Cecilio Lim III, acting city accountant Eleno Mendoza, city treasurer Nelia Barlis;
CPMO engineers Arnel Cadangan, Emerito Magat and Connie Consulta, CPMO chief Line de la Peña, BAC committee secretariat heads Giovanni Condes and Manolito Uyaco, technical working group chair Rodel Nayve, BAC member Ulysses Orienza, General Services Department OIC Gerardo San Gabriel and GSD staff member Norman Flores.
In July last year, lawyer Renato Bondal and Nicolas Enciso VI of the Save Makati Movement filed plunder and graft charges against the Binays and other Makati City officials in the Ombudsman over the allegedly overpriced P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II.
Senate probe
After the complaint was filed in the Ombudsman, a subcommittee of the Senate blue ribbon investigated the car park project.
As the hearings went on, the subcommittee expanded its probe to include other allegations of corruption in Makati when the Vice President was its mayor.
These included the security and janitorial services at City Hall, the construction of Makati Science High School Building, his ownership of various condominium units, his agricultural estate in Batangas province and the deal between the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) and Alphaland Corp. to develop the BSP’s one-hectare property in Makati. Binay is a longtime president of the BSP.
The Binays have denied any wrongdoing.
On Jan. 29, the younger Binay was compelled to appear before the subcommittee on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by the Senate.
As soon as he arrived at the Senate, the younger Binay holed up at the detention room of the Senate sergeant at arms. It took at least two hours before Binay decided to go up.
When finally escorted to the session hall, the mayor remained defiant saying he had said everything and saw no reason to take part in the hearing.
The subcommittee respected his request not to be asked questions, saying the arrest order had been satisfied, and let him go.–With a report from Inquirer Research
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