Palace on Junjun Binay ouster: Don’t look at us
Malacañang on Saturday insisted it had nothing to do with the Ombudsman’s decision to dismiss Mayor Junjun Binay from office, saying the Office of the Ombudsman was an independent body.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace should not be asked to comment on Binay’s dismissal since the Office of the Ombudsman was “separate and independent from the Office of the President.”
The Binay camp has charged that the decision, which was released just days before the scheduled filing for the certificates of candidacy for next year’s elections, was part of a demolition job not only against the Makati mayor but also against his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay who resigned from the Aquino Cabinet and has announced his plans to run for president.
“We do not have a hand in the processes of the Ombudsman so they are the ones who can answer the statements made by the Binay family,” Valte said over government-run Radyo ng Bayan.
By forever disallowing them from holding public office and preventing them from receiving their retirement benefits, the Ombudsman handed down against Binay and other Makati City officials the most severe penalty it could for government officials facing charges of graft and corruption.
The Ombudsman said Binay et al. erred in approving the construction of a multibillion-peso parking building for the city government.
The Binays condemned the Ombudsman’s decision, saying it was a case of persecution and “selective justice.”
Unless Junjun Binay secures a temporary restraining order or injunction, the Ombudsman’s order dismissing him as Makati mayor would be binding, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III.
Pimentel, a lawyer, chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee conducting the long-running inquiry on alleged anomalies involving the Vice President and his son.
Pimentel, in a radio interview, said that under the rules of court, even final and executory decisions could be subjected to review. But the petitioner shoulders the heavy burden of showing the reviewing authority that the Ombudsman’s ruling was baseless or plucked out of thin air, he said.
“If they do not get a TRO or preliminary injunction or a reversal of the order, that means the ruling of the Ombudsman is binding because it is final and executory,” he said in a radio interview.
Pimentel said that just because Mayor Binay was found administratively liable did not mean that he was automatically considered criminally liable as well.
According to him, there was a higher degree of proof needed to file criminal charges against a respondent, because criminal cases carry punishments harsher than dismissal and perpetual disqualification from public office.
For instance, a plunder charge is nonbailable and could lead to a life sentence, which was why there is a higher degree of proof necessary.
The Blue Ribbon subcommittee earlier recommended the filing of plunder charges against Mayor Binay and his father for the “massive, unconscionable overpricing” of Makati City Hall Building II.
The Vice President said he would not be surprised if his political rivals had him arrested on these charges to stop his campaign for the presidency.
“You may be worried about what happened to Junjun. I am the real target here. The only thing I am waiting for is for them to issue an arrest warrant against me,” the elder Binay had said.
Sen. Nancy Binay said her brother, the mayor, would still file his certificate of candidacy for the mayoralty next week despite the Ombudsman’s order. With a report from Niña P. Calleja
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