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Thursday, October 19, 2006
Makati mayor continues to hole up at City Hall
MANILA -- Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay didn't budge his position and stayed at City Hall for the second day Wednesday despite Malacañang's suspension order against him and members of the City Council for allegedly keeping "ghost" employees.
Aside from the suspension order, the mayor, a reserve Marine colonel, may also face another charge for wearing a Marine uniform without any military purpose, the military spokesman said.
Supporters of Binay joined him Wednesday night in a vigil in front of City Hall together with some church leaders and opposition stalwarts.
Binay has been accused by a political opponent of conspiring with his allies at the City Council to pocket some P113 million as salaries of some 1,235 "ghost employees" of the City Hall, which he denied.
Roberto Brillante, a former vice mayor of the city and a long-time political foe of Binay, claimed that the mayor, Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, and the city councilors reportedly hired the ghost employees in 2005 and also from January to June this year.
Brillante's complaint was forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman with a copy furnished to the Office of the President, which ordered a suspension order to be implemented by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
In a press conference Wednesday morning, Binay ordered all department heads and employees to report back to work and serve the people of Makati because he does not want the public service to be affected by the crisis.
He blamed Tuesday's suspension of City Hall operations on the policemen deployed to maintain peace and order while the suspension was being served.
The mayor and his supporters closed City Hall and stayed in his office last Tuesday when DILG officials served the suspension order. He, along with Mercado and 16 city councilors, are facing charges of grave misconduct, abuse of authority and conduct prejudicial to the public interest of the service.
Binay said he would remain in his office until the Court of Appeals (CA) resolves their petition, questioning the legality of the suspension order. He maintained that the suspension was "illegal."
He said they were not given the chance to answer the complaint first before the suspension is imposed on them "that does not follow due process." He hoped that the CA will see the illegality of the suspension and will act on their favor.
But the Palace maintained that the rule of law was followed in suspending Binay and his fellow elected officials of Makati.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye also denied political vendetta in the action against the mayor. "This is a matter of the rule of law and not the rule of men. There is no political vendetta involved and, hopefully, justice will be upheld," he said.
He welcomed the move of Binay to seek the court's intervention in the case.
The CA as of Wednesday afternoon failed to act on the petition of Binay in restraining Malacañang and the DILG from implementing his suspension.
The three-man CA 13th Division was still deliberating on the petition for certiorari and preliminary injunction filed by Binay over the weekend against respondents Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno.
Mercado, who was also suspended by the DILG, asked the appellate court to nullify the preventive suspension, saying Brillante failed to substantiate his allegations.
He wanted the CA to immediately lift the preventive suspension against him and issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the public respondents from enforcing and implementing the suspension.
He, likewise, urged the CA to require Brillante to file a "bill of particulars" in the interest of fair play and to enable them to intelligently answer his complaints against them.
He said the evidence against them cannot be remotely considered as "strong" to warrant their suspensions. He added that the suspension order signed by Ermita violated their constitutional rights to due process because it ignored Binay's request to require Brillante to submit a "bill of particulars" to all of the respondents.
"The order is indecently hasty. This is the kindest that can be said of the order of the executive secretary preventively suspending the petitioner despite the evidence on hand improbably establishing the legally mandated standard of strong evidence of guilt," Mercado said.
He said Ermita suspiciously "acted quickly" last September 1, through Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Manuel Gaite ordering them to submit their verified answer to Brillante's complaint.
Last September 26, Mercado said he and Binay along with their co-respondents city councilors filed their answers to the complaint and requested for a bill of particulars citing that Brillante generally alleged that some in the lists are ghost employees without giving any specific name.
"Worse, when juxtaposed against the answer of petitioner, and likewise including the Commission on Audit (COA) certification, the burden of strong evidence of guilt has not even been met by any stretch of the imagination. Moreover, in proceeding to preventively suspend petitioner, public respondent executive secretary completely disregard all elementary rules of fair play. Note that the application for bill of particulars had not been acted on, despite the request being made last September 26, or more than three weeks ago. Obviously, the issues have yet to be joined," he said.
The military also sees violations against Binay for wearing a Marine uniform without any military purpose.
Bacarro said the mayor could be tried in a court martial for violation of the Article of War 97 (conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline).
He said the charge may be filed for violating the military's uniform code, which covers all military personnel, including officers and enlisted personnel and even those in the reserve service.
"He is a military reservist, he is subject to military law," said Bacarro of Binay. But he could not say if the military is calling for a formal investigation against Binay, preparatory to his possible facing of a military court.
"The AFP is bound by some regulations, policies and these regulations and policies should be adhered to by all members of the military. And one of these regulations covers the wearing of uniforms," he said.
When asked if the military is pursuing a case against Binay, Bacarro said: "Not now. I cannot answer that but anybody who violates rules and regulation can be subjected to such proceedings. What I'm telling you right now are the probable violations. We are not saying we will file charges against Mayor Binay."
Meanwhile, anti-government forces that were planning to hold a motorcade to Makati in support of Binay. Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. would lead the motorcade.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, who is a staunch critic of the Arroyo administration, said the timing of the Makati mayor's suspension is doubtful.
Iniguez also advised Binay to remain firm in his stand and "if he is really innocent, then we would be behind him." (Sunnex)
(October 19, 2006 issue)
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