MANILA, Philippines — In a turnaround, the Arroyo administration Sunday deferred the suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and lifted the freeze order on all but one of the banks holding the funds of the city.
The twin moves on the crucial last week of the election campaign came after the media reported that Binay had asked his supporters to thank President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for ensuring his reelection by harassing him.
Ms Arroyo’s allies had also assailed the timing of the suspension and the freezing of Makati’s assets.
“It’s a case of too little, too late,” Binay said of the latest moves taken by Malacañang.
“It will not change the fact that this regime has again misused the powers of government for political ends at the expense of public welfare,” he said in a statement.
MANILA, Philippines — Reelectionist Mayor Jejomar Binay and his entire ticket were proclaimed winners early Thursday, sweeping all elective posts in the financial capital, 20-0.
Binay emerged as the victor in the mayoral race by an overwhelming margin, capturing 198,814 of the votes cast from the city’s two districts against administration Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid’s 22,462.
His other little-known opponent, Elias Dulalia, had 1,243 votes, based on the final count of all 1,834 precincts canvassed at the Makati Coliseum by the local Commission on Elections office.
THE spouse of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay could heave a sigh of relief, at least for the next few days.
This developed when two divisions of the Sandiganbayan gave due course to the appeal of Elenita Binay, former mayor of Makati City, to suspend proceedings on her cases now pending before four divisions of the anti-graft court involving the alleged multimillion-peso purchase of overpriced furniture and office partitions from 1999 to 2001.
The first and fifth divisions of the Sandiganbayan have separately conducted hearings on Thursday and both gave the prosecution panel a period of five days beginning Thursday until Tuesday next week to comment on the motion filed by Elenita, a former Makati City mayor.
THE suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay by Malacañang smacks of political vendetta. The feisty mayor was at the forefront of the “GMA Resign” rallies.
If only for delicadeza, the Palace should have inhibited itself from investigating the complaint against Binay for employing “ghost” workers in the City Hall payroll. That job could have been best left to the Office of the Ombudsman, which is on the side of Malacañang anyway.
Binay’s suspension was a clear message from the Palace to its political enemies: Don’t mess with us.
THE SUSPENSION order against Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and other city officials was condemned “in the strongest terms” and branded as “illegal” by the opposition on Tuesday as allies of the embattled local executive rushed to his side at the Makati City Hall where he has holed out.
The DILG served the 60-day suspension order against Binay, Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and 16 councilors earlier in the day over charges they kept so-called “ghost employees.”
Binay has denied the accusation.
Former president Corazon Aquino, a close friend of Binay, went to the Makati City Hall to show her support for the mayor and urged everyone to “pray for justice.”
