Binay dares Trillanes to charge CA justices

Sweeping allegations

Speaking to reporters after attending the 19th National Social Welfare and Development Forum and General Assembly at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City yesterday, Binay dismissed as “unfair” and “sweeping” Trillanes’ latest allegations against him and his family.

READ: Hearings to resume on ‘family syndicate’

“Let’s see what will be the consequences of what (Trillanes) said,” he told reporters in Filipino.

Pressed by the Inquirer later if the “consequences” he was referring to meant that the Court of Appeals could reprimand Trillanes for his statements, the Vice President said: “I will tell you, it’s contemptuous.”

Mayor Binay, who also attended the convention and spoke to reporters alongside his father, said it was “wrong” for Trillanes to “threaten the judiciary.”

“Why say that supporters should say prayers for Vice President Binay to win in the presidential election in 2016? It’s just unfounded, uncalled for. It negatively affects the image of senators if that’s how they speak,” the younger Binay said.

The mayor agreed with his father that Trillanes should just file cases against those in the Court of Appeals.

Without proof

The Vice President said the senator should file charges so that those whom he maligned would be able to defend themselves. He also criticized Trillanes for making statements without proof, saying this seemed to be the latter’s style of doing things.

“It’s the Trillanes mark to cast aspersions on the integrity of others, but he could not prove them,” he said.

Binay welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to hold oral arguments on the petition filed by the Ombudsman against Mayor Binay’s plea in the appellate court to stop his suspension from office, saying this was part of the “rule of law.”

But the Vice President said he believed the oral arguments’ purpose was to see whether the Ombudsman could be cited in contempt because the principal issue concerning his son’s suspension had already been “disposed by the CA.”

Told that Peña vowed he would not step down, Binay said the vice mayor should follow the rule of law.

Addressing the convention before the interview with reporters, Binay mentioned his son’s case in the appellate court by saying the mayor was “absolved” by the appellate court.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio also defended the Court of Appeals from the allegations that the Binays “bought” an injunction from the tribunal to stop the Ombudsman from suspending the Makati mayor.

“The statements of Trillanes that the preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order in the case of Mayor Binay were a result of corruption in the judiciary is as reckless and irresponsible as it is baseless,” Topacio said on Wednesday.

He said that as an officer of the court and member of the Philippine Bar, he was appalled that a senator would make such accusations that undermine the people’s faith in a coequal branch without so much as a rumor to go by on. With a report from Jerome Aning

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