Mayor Junjun Binay of Makati City has been suspended for six months by the Ombuds(wo)man, the government’s arm that investigates wrongdoing by public officials. But he got a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals and thus escaped suspension.
But before the TRO came down, Binay was defiant and didn’t want to obey the Ombuds(wo)man’s order. (The current ombudsman is a woman, former Supreme Court associate justice Conchita Carpio-Morales.)
By their defiance of the Ombuds(wo)man, the Binays (yes, including his father, Vice President Jejomar, who slept with him at city hall during the wait for the TRO) not only played a dangerous game but also showed their disrespect for the law.
They also openly accused Interior Sec. Mar Roxas (a potential rival of Veep Binay for the presidency in 2016) of orchestrating the young Binay’s suspension and Carpio-Morales of playing politics. That’s inflammatory talk and uncivil speech.
That kind of in-your-face demagoguery has no place in high-level politics. It doesn’t enhance the quality and dignity of political discourse.
Besides taunting Roxas and baiting him to dish out the same inappropriate language or behavior, the Binays were playing to the emotions of voters who may still prefer Veep Jojo as the next president.
They were trying to salvage whatever is left of the base of support the vice president had before the bombshell of alleged corruption exploded last year. And they were trying to inflame their supporters into potentially explosive street action.
They were hoping that the people would rally behind them as oppositionists being persecuted by the Aquino government. But it’s doubtful whether the general public would buy that gambit of defiance.
The Binays, with Veep Jojo in the forefront, have succeeded in entrenching themselves as Makati’s keepers of power. They’ve allegedly amassed wealth and power over the years through corrupt means. Their political enemies allege that they’re rich way beyond their legal capacity to accumulate wealth.
Recent surveys indicate that the Filipino people believe the charges against the Binays are credible, as evidenced by the steady decline in the vice president’s popularity numbers (in a survey just out, his popularity rating was up a bit).
Were the Binays using the standoff at city hall as their make-or-break exit from their continuing dilemma over the corruption allegations? Would the drama over barricading themselves inside city hall have elicited the Filipinos’ natural sympathy for the underdog?
Veep Jojo has pursued a successful career out of playing the underdog since he came onto the political scene in the precursor events leading to the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution. He has projected himself as a David bold enough to challenge the political Goliaths.
Later, as a long-serving mayor of Makati (the richest city in the Philippines), he continued to play the role of a Robin Hood out to protect the welfare of Makati’s poor. But his political enemies picture him as a robbing hood who pockets as much money as he gives away, or even much, much more.
The city hall stalemate is over for now. But questions remain. First, how will the people at large react to the Binays’ defiant and inflammatory rhetoric?
Second, how will the public read the Binays’ accusation against the Ombuds(wo)man herself? Does their act of defiance and disrespect for the law give us an indication of how the Binays would behave if Veep Jojo does become president?
And, finally, when they accuse Ombuds(wo)man Carpio-Morales of being a tool of their perceived political enemies, do they really believe someone who painstakingly built an illustrious career with integrity and dedication to the law would now suddenly throw all of that away just to please a bunch of politicians? It’s a thought worth pondering with deep introspection.
The Binays were playing a dangerous game. If the Court of Appeals decides after 60 days to let the Ombuds(wo)man’s case against them proceed, would they again be defiant?
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