Beginning of the end for Binays?

THE BINAYS have been dealt a blow.

Makati Mayor Junjun Binay has been barred for life from running for public office by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales issued the order after an investigation showed that Binay and 19 other Makati City Hall officials committed “serious dishonesty” in the construction of the 11-story parking building.

The building which cost P2.28 billion is considered “the most expensive parking building in the entire country.”

Mayor Binay’s dismissal from government service and his perpetual disqualification from running for any public post may be the end of the Binays’ political stranglehold on Makati.

The Binays are the most powerful family in the country based on the government positions its members hold: Jojo, the patriarch is Vice President; daughter Nancy is a senator; Abigail, another daughter, is a member of the House of Representatives; Dr. Elenita, the matriarch, used to be Makati mayor; Junjun, until the Ombudsman’s order came out, was Makati mayor.

After Junjun’s dismissal, more punitive measures against the Binays are expected soon.

Vice President Jojo is facing plunder charges in connection with the allegations of graft against him when he was still Makati mayor.

If Jojo is not charged soon, then he will probably face charges after the elections when he becomes an ordinary citizen.

(That’s supposing that voters, fully aware of the charges against him, reject him at next year’s polls).

Dr. Elenita Binay, on the other hand, is being tried for graft in the Sandiganbayan which is taking a noticeably long time to decide on her case.

Karma, the universal law of cause and effect, has finally caught up with the Binays.

Karma is an immutable law.

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The report about a recent standoff at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) between inmates and prison guards did not get as much attention as other stories.

Did the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) or Department of Justice “kill” the story?

My sources at the NBP say the standoff started when a convicted drug lord, who has become a Commando Gang leader, was about to be transferred to another building in the maximum security compound.

His gang mates prevented the prison guards, who would have escorted him to his new prison cell, from doing so, leading to the standoff.

The stalemate lasted for hours and ended only after a lengthy negotiation between prison officials and leaders of the Commando Gang.

Among the agreements reached during the negotiation, in exchange for the transfer of the convicted drug lord, was for prison authorities not to search the cells of gang members who were armed with rifles and pistols, according to my sources.

The incident blew up in the face of retired Army Lt. Gen. Rainier Cruz III, the new BuCor director.

That incident wouldn’t have happened had a retired prisons superintendent, Juanito Leopando, been appointed BuCor chief instead of a military officer who has no background in running prisons.

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Julian Villegas, deputy chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) at the Las Piñas district office, ran over Demetrio Furio Jr. on a highway at Barangay Salawag in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Furio died as a result.

Villegas promised to help the victim’s family defray the funeral and burial expenses, as well as Furio’s lost income.

The LTO official, however, has yet to keep his promise.