Binays to bring ‘big guns’ to SC

By: Tarra Quismundo - 10 years ago

MEN IN BARONG Vice President Jejomar Binay and his son Makati Mayor Junjun Binay arrive with their bodyguards at the SMX Convention Center on Wednesday in Pasay City. JOAN BONDOC

For the showdown at the high court, they are sending the big guns.

Top lawyers will be representing the opposing camps of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. on Tuesday, when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Morales’ petition challenging the Court of Appeals proceedings on Binay’s petition to stop his suspension by the Ombudsman.

The government’s chief counsel, Acting Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, said he will be arguing for the Ombudsman during the oral arguments in Baguio City, where the high court magistrates are holding their April sessions.

The Ombudsman had imposed a six-month preventive suspension against Binay while her office was investigating his role in the allegedly overpriced construction of the Makati City Hall Building 2.

But Binay went to the appellate court questioning his suspension. It is this still-pending petition that Morales’ high court petition seeks to stop, with the Ombudsman asserting her authority to pursue administrative investigations unimpeded by lawsuits.

In the meantime, Binay continues to hold on to his office, empowered by an injunction that the appellate court granted last Monday, extending the 60-day temporary restraining order it earlier issued while it decided the mayor’s certiorari plea.

The government earlier said that the TRO was already moot as it was released when Binay’s suspension had already been enforced and Vice Mayor Romulo Peña had already been sworn in as acting mayor.

Hilbay will be arguing the Ombudsman’s case before his predecessor at the Office of the Solicitor General, Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza, who will be taking part in his first oral arguments hearing as a member of the high court.

Since his appointment last August, Jardeleza has inhibited himself when the high court deliberated on cases that he had handled as Solicitor General, including the oral arguments on the country’s Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States that were held last November.

Binay’s camp is meanwhile expected to send Claro Certeza, the counsel of record in the mayor’s court cases. Certeza is a senior partner in the Subido Pagente Certeza Mendoza & Binay law office, where Binay’s sister, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, is also a partner.

Binay is not expected to appear during the oral arguments on Tuesday. Hilbay could not say for sure whether Morales would attend the hearing, though she is not required to.

Earlier this week, the high court ordered Morales and Binay to submit their written positions on the case by Monday, the eve of the oral arguments hearing, as the magistrates have decided to do away with oral presentations and instead go straight to the justices’ interpellations.

The two parties are required to put forward their arguments, particularly on whether or not the appellate court had committed grave abuse of discretion when it issued the TRO, and whether the judiciary may rule over cases questioning the authority of the Ombudsman, given the latter’s status as an independent investigative body.