Suspension order part of ‘telenovela’ for 2016 elections, says Binay lawyer

Video by Ryan Leagogo

MANILA, Philippines—Claro Certeza, lawyer of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay, on Thursday said the preventive suspension order handed by the Ombudsman against Binay was the newest installment of a “telenovela” aimed at maligning the Binay family and quashing Vice President Jejomar Binay’s shot for the presidency in 2016.

“Unti-unti ang alegasyon. Bakit? Para yang ‘telenovela’ kasi hindi puwede mangyari lahat in one sitting.”

Speaking to reporters, Certeza revealed that the timeline of the investigations conducted in relation to irregularities allegedly committed by the Makati mayor and his father, the Vice President, showed a “pattern of harassment.”

READ: Junjun Binay decries ‘special express suspension,’ vows to exhaust all legal remedies

“Makikita niyo na unti-unti (ang paglabas ng mga alegasyon) pero sa dulo iisa lang ang pakay: Ang durugin ang pamilya Binay (You will see that the allegations were presented in piecemeal, which lead to the fall of the Binays),” the lawyer said. “And ito ang latest move diyan, ang pag-issue ng suspension against Mayor Binay (The latest move is the suspension of Mayor Binay).”

The timeline began when Renato Bondal, a political rival of the Vice President, filed a plunder case against the older Binay on July 22, 2014, for the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building 2. Since then, 17 Senate hearings and a special audit by the Commission on Audit were conducted.

READ: Plunder complaint filed vs Binay, Makati officials

“The allegations are being hurled piece by piece so that the issues will be discussed. As long as the hearings continue, the Vice President and his family will be pinned to these allegations,” Certeza said in Filipino.

The lawyer said that witnesses who defended the family, like Greenergy Holdings Inc. chief executive officer Antonio Tiu and himself, were now facing criminal charges because they were on the wrong side of the political fence.

He also decried that the suspension order was part of an “orchestrated persecution” against the Binays green-lighted by their political opponents.

Certeza said that their camp was confident that the Court of Appeals would grant a temporary restraining order on Binay’s suspension.