Mayor Binay supporters mass anew at Makati City Hall

About 1,000 residents gathered once again yesterday on the Makati City Hall quadrangle vowing to stay there indefinitely in a show of support following a fresh move by the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr.

A panel of investigators from the office had earlier recommended that the mayor, along with 19 other city officials be placed under preventive suspension pending investigation of the alleged rigging of the bidding for the construction of the supposedly overpriced Makati Science High School building.

An earlier move to suspend the son of Vice President Jejomar Binay in connection with the Ombudsman’s investigation into the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II was temporarily stopped by the Court of Appeals (CA) and the case is now pending in the Supreme Court.

Sitting on monoblock chairs under a tarpaulin, the residents from Makati’s 33 barangays said they would stay on the quadrangle until the resolution of the fresh suspension order against the mayor, according to Barangay Captain Ding Bolo.

“We are here to support Mayor Binay and the Vice President. Whatever happens, we are with them until the end,” Bolo said amid the din of pop music blaring from huge speakers mounted on a makeshift stage.

On Tuesday, Binay’s lawyer Claro Certeza dismissed as “hearsay” the purported state evidence the investigative panel cited on the alleged rigging of the bidding for the construction of the high school.

In March, around 2,000 to 3,000 pro-Binay residents also gathered on the grounds for days after the antigraft court placed Binay and other local officials under a six-month preventive suspension for the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II.

The mayor spent 28 days in his office on the 21st floor of the City Hall building until the CA granted his petition for a preliminary injunction and ordered the Ombudsman to respect its earlier ruling to stop the suspension order.