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THE
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has
asked the Solicitor General’s Office to formally
petition the Office of the Ombudsman to defer the
preventive suspension order on Makati City Mayor Jejomar
Binay.
Saying
the suspension was ill-timed, Undersecretary Marius
Corpus—ironically accused of precipitate haste in
serving the order late Friday night—filed a request
asking Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera to file a
motion to lift Binay’s suspension order until after the
midterm elections.
Appearing at a hearing at the Office of the Ombudsman on
Tuesday, Binay questioned the haste of the Office of the
Ombudsman in suspending him from office based on what he
called an incomplete document.
Binay
said the suspension should not have come immediately
since the anti-graft body has yet to receive the
complete evidence on the complaint. He also told the
panel, headed by Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando
Casimiro, that he had been denied due process, because
he and the other respondents have to yet to file their
counteraffidavits on the charges.
Binay
protested the absence of due process in the release of
the preventive suspension order by the Office of the
Ombudsman, after an official of the agency said the
complaint against him had yet to be authenticated.
“The
admission by the office of the Ombudsman that they
placed me on preventive suspension based on a complaint
that has not been authenticated shows the gross
injustice behind the whole affair,” Binay said.
Ombudsman officials tried to explain the basis for their
action and the purpose of the hearing. One reason, they
said, is to allow the complainant to authenticate the
complaint and the corresponding affidavits.
In
response, Binay said the procedure was highly irregular.
“I have been a trial lawyer for more than 20 years, but
this is the first time that I have seen such a
procedure,” he said. Binay acted as his own counsel.
On
Friday, the Ombudsman ordered Binay’s suspension
allegedly for the city’s maintenance of ghost employees.
The order was served by the DILG on the night of the
same day.
At the
opening of the hearing, Casimiro declared the
proceedings were both for the administrative and
criminal aspects of the graft complaint, filed by former
Makati councilor Oscar Ibay.
But
Binay, who appeared for himself, contended that under
the rules, he has five days to respond to the
proceedings, which he said was not observed since he was
only notified a day before Monday.
His
reply prompted Casimiro to declare that the “hearing”
was for the preliminary conference to “lay down the
rules” and it was only for an administrative case.
The
mayor was more peeved when he learned that Ibay
submitted on Monday a manifestation asking that his
additional evidence consisting of records from the
Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) be accepted
by the Ombudsman.
The BID
records allegedly showed that two of the alleged ghost
employees of the Makati City government already left the
country in 2006 but were still receiving their salaries.
Binay
said the case against him was filed in December 2006,
and yet the Ombudsman has yet to collate or does not
have its complete evidence. Worse, the office had him
suspended out of the charges.
Casimiro
said the mayor’s suspension was lawful as the charges
are “sufficient in form and substance.”
Even the
city councilors of
Makati
present at the hearing said they were only notified on
Monday about the hearing. They said that they have yet
to receive copies of the complaint and the affidavits of
the complainant and witnesses.
Aside
from Binay and the city councilors, Ibay also named
Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and city treasurer Luz
Yamane in his complaint. Binay and Yamane have been
suspended by the Ombudsman.
Binay
said he will continue to act as mayor in order not to
disrupt the delivery of services in his city.
Meanwhile, in asking the Solicitor General to work out
the deferment of Binay’s suspension, DILG Undersecretary
Corpus said the DILG feels that the preventive
suspension order should be temporarily lifted until
after the elections to prevent public perception that
the same is politically motivated.
“Pursuant to this, the undersigned respectfully requests
that a motion to this effect be filed with the Office of
the Ombudsman within the applicable periods as allowed
by law,” Corpus said in his letter to Devanadera.
However,
Corpus maintained that Binay is technically suspended
after the suspension order was served on Friday. He said
Binay can no longer discharge official functions of the
Office of the Mayor.
On the
other hand, he said Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, being
the second-highest elected public official, becomes the
acting mayor, even though there has been no formal
turnover.
He
warned that Binay may be held liable for usurpation of
authority if he continues to discharge the official
function of the Office of the Mayor, while Mercado can
be charged for dereliction of duty if he refuses to act
as the city’s acting mayor.
Malacañang on Tuesday urged Binay not to blame the
administration for the suspension order issued, and to
cease using the issue to boost the stock of opposition
candidates in the May 14 polls.
Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio said in a
text message to reporters that by continuing his attacks
against the administration regarding the Ombudsman’s
order, Binay runs the risk of directing more “sympathy,
rather than scorn” from voters.
Claudio
said that instead of lashing at Malacanang and Team
Unity, Binay would be better served if he directed his
grievances to the Ombudsman, which had issued the
suspension order.
“Mayor
Binay should not vent his ire on TU nor with Malacañang,
which had nothing to do with the suspension issue....He
should take out his grievances on the Ombudsman and not
on TU. The grounds for his suspension are matters he
must answer before the Ombudsman,” Claudio said. --J. Mayuga, R. Acosta, M. Gonzalez |
