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.

Binay, who is facing administration Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid in the mayoral race, was served a suspension order late Friday night in connection with a plunder case filed by a political rival with the Office of the Ombudsman.

Two days before, the Bureau of Internal Revenue froze all the bank accounts of the city government and the personal accounts of Binay and Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado in what the BIR said was an effort to recover P1.1 billion in alleged unpaid taxes.

The freeze order threatened to cripple operations at City Hall.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the preventive suspension of Binay would be deferred “for the duration of the election period.”

In a statement, Puno said he was putting off the suspension “in the spirit of fair play.”

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Binay — his second in six months — while he was being investigated for allegedly filling the city payroll with “ghost employees.”

Assistant Interior Secretary Brian Yamsuan said the “deferment” was actually “the continuation of the dialogue” between Binay and Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus and the Philippine National Police on Friday.

“We wanted to be civil and prudent, that’s why there was a dialogue. We acted in good faith,” Yamsuan said in a telephone interview.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government implemented the suspension order on Friday because it could be charged with dereliction of duty if it did not, he said.

Tension gripped the Makati City Hall on Friday night after DILG officials, armed with a suspension order from the Ombudsman, tried to evict Binay.

Corpus, accompanied by senior police officers, met with Binay to serve the order, but Corpus later agreed to defer serving the order to Monday.

Denied due process

The deferment of his suspension did not appease Binay.

“The Filipino people, not just in Makati, all know that (Malacañang’s) sole objective is to achieve its political ends without regard to public interest,” Binay said in the statement.

Binay could not be reached for an interview Sunday.

His political adviser, Lito Anzures, said the mayor was conferring with his lawyers about his legal options in a closed-door meeting.

Although he agreed to receive the suspension order, Binay said he would ask the Court of Appeals on Monday to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against its implementation.

Binay said he was denied due process by the Office of the Ombudsman when it failed to provide him a copy of the complaint filed by a congressional candidate who, he noted, was running under Ms Arroyo’s party.

Lakas candidate Oscar Ibay filed the complaint in December 2006 but Binay said that up to now, he had not received a copy of the charges.

Neither has he been asked by the Ombudsman to comment on the allegations, he said.

Binay alleged that his political opponents had known about his imminent suspension as early as last week.

“It’s the same as the garnishment order from the BIR.”

Binay maintained that the suspension was part of a Malacañang plan to harass him for being a vocal critic of the administration, citing a series of events that began with the killing of his security chief, Pablo Glean, last year.

“The pattern of harassment is clear. After the still unsolved killing of my security chief, Malacañang tried to suspend me in October last year, but this was stopped by the people of Makati,” he said.

Officials tried to serve a suspension order against Binay last year based on a complaint by his political rival Roberto Brillante that he and the city council were keeping ghost employees.

Face-saving move

But the mayor, after barricading himself with his supporters at City Hall for three days, obtained a TRO and later an injunction barring interior officials from carrying out the suspension order.

Binay said that the lifting of the garnishment order on Makati’s assets was another “face-saving move.”

He questioned the order, saying the city had already paid P200 million to the BIR in a compromise settlement, and argued that the freeze order would cripple the city government.

In a statement, Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag said he had ordered the agency’s regional office to limit its freeze order on Makati’s bank accounts to only the amount that covered the tax claim.

Unusual

The move is unusual for the BIR, which normally freezes all bank accounts of a delinquent taxpayer, regardless of amount, until the dispute has been settled and the levy paid.

“To enable the uninterrupted delivery of basic services to the people of Makati and the payment of salaries of city employees, I have been instructed by the President to take the necessary steps to limit the writ of garnishment issued by the Bureau against the City of Makati to the amount of unpaid taxes and increments being claimed by the BIR,” he said.

The case stemmed from the city government’s alleged failure to remit a total of P1.15 billion in withholding taxes of about 8,000 employees from 1999 to 2002.

With Buñag’s order, the BIR’s Makati unit immediately instructed the presidents, treasurers and cashiers of the banks that held Makati’s funds to lift and cancel the warrant of garnishment issued on May 2.

List of banks

These banks are Equitable PCI Bank, Philippine National Bank, Allied Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Banco de Oro Universal Bank, Asiatrust Development Bank, China Banking Corp., LBC Development Bank, Planters Development Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Union Bank of the Philippines, United Coconut Planters Bank, Security Bank Corp., Asia United Bank, Bank of Commerce, BDO Private Bank, Export Industry Bank, International Exchange Bank, Philippine Bank of Communications, Philippine Trust Co., Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines and Banco Filipino.

Baquiran also ordered the lifting and the cancellation of the warrant of garnishment on Makati’s funds in Philippine Veterans Bank beyond the disputed amount of tax liabilities.

“Makati has deposits in Veterans Bank that can cover the amount due our unpaid taxes,” Buñag said.

The BIR said the city’s unpaid tax liabilities stood at P600 million to P700 million for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001. This is significantly lower than the P1.1-billion liability the tax agency earlier announced.

Palace not giving up

Malacañang said it was not giving up the legal battle to unseat Binay.

Palace legal counsel Sergio Apostol even accused Binay, the president of the United Opposition, of using his court battle against corruption charges to advance his political interest.

“He is the one doing a martial law in Makati,” Apostol said.

Team Unity campaign strategist Ben Evardone denied that Malacañang was softening its stance.

“How can you sympathize with a person like Binay who would like to defy the court? This will not affect election results, contrary to what GO [Genuine Opposition] and Binay are saying,” he said.

Yamsuan rejected suggestions that Puno backtracked after Ms Arroyo blew her top over the Binay issue. “That’s not true,” he said.

What happened was that after the report on Binay’s suspension broke in the media, Ms Arroyo called Puno to inquire “if the suspension order was true,” Yamsuan said.

He said that even Ms Arroyo was not informed about the suspension order and the subsequent implementation of the Ombudsman’s order by the DILG.

Puno acting on his own?

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Puno was acting on his own when he decided to defer the implementation of the suspension order.

“Yes, the DILG is the implementing arm of government on matters of this nature. Whatever it is, Secretary Puno as head of the local government is taking this action according to his better judgment as implementor of the executive branch on matters of this nature.”

Ermita begged off, when asked about the BIR decision to lift the writ of garnishment issued against the city government.

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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 message of Makati is clear: In a democracy, it is the people who will judge their leaders,” Binay said. “Malacañang clearly misread the pulse of the people of Makati.”

Lapid’s candidacy was widely believed as an administration strategy to rid Makati of Binay, a bitter political foe of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“More importantly, we showed the entire Philippines that we are prepared to defend our city’s freedom,” he said, referring to the national government’s efforts to evict him prior to the elections.

On May 4, Binay was served a suspension order in connection with a complaint filed in the Office of the Ombudsman by a political rival who had accused him of keeping ghost employees.

Two days earlier, the Bureau of Internal Revenue froze the city’s bank accounts in what it said was an effort to recover P1.1 billion in unpaid withholding taxes.

But the Arroyo administration backtracked after the twin moves elicited criticism. It deferred the implementation of the suspension order until after the polls and lifted the freeze order on all but one of the banks holding the city’s funds.

In the vice mayoralty contest, Binay’s running mate Ernesto Mercado got 151,431 votes and was proclaimed vice mayor. His opponent, Nemesio Yabut Jr., got 48,456 votes.

All the candidates for councilmen in Binay’s ticket, including his reelectionist son District 1 Councilor Jejomar Erwin, were also proclaimed winners.

Mayor Binay’s daughter, Marlen Abigail, was proclaimed winner in the second congressional district after garnering a total of 70,904 votes. Her opponent Erwin Genuino, son of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. president and CEO Ephraim Genuino, got 41,191.

Anthony, Genuino’s son, also ran for district 1 councilor but did not make it to the top eight.

Reelectionist Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr. was declared winner in the first congressional district after he garnered 85,958 votes. Former councilor Oscar Ibay got 17,489 votes.

Shiela Rojas, election officer of Makati’s second district and chair of the local board of canvassers, proclaimed the winners at about 6 a.m., after a whole night devoted to canvassing, tabulating and adding up the votes.

Hours before, Lakas-Kampi Makati campaign manager Bong Ferrer said they would try to stop the proclamation on the basis of an electoral protest they had filed with the Comelec shortly after Monday’s polls.

“We have evidence that there was massive vote buying and cheating committed by the other camp, and we are prepared to present these in the proper forum,” he said.

A crowd of about 150 supporters of the Genuinos crowded the gates of the coliseum and started a program accusing Binay’s camp of robbing their candidates of victory.

But by midnight, the crowd had thinned to a few handfuls, and were all gone at dawn.

When the winning candidates were proclaimed at a little before 6 a.m., Ferrer and the lawyers for his party were also nowhere to be found.

Binay, surrounded by bodyguards and aides, entered the coliseum just moments after the canvassing in district 2 closed, eliciting scattered cheers from supporters, mostly poll watchers.

The members of his ticket, including his wife, former Mayor Elenita Binay, Abigail, Jun-Jun, and other family relatives, started streaming into the coliseum.

But they had to wait another hour for the proclamation, as the totaling of the votes for district 1 took longer than expected.

What slowed down the tabulation, Rojas said, was the commotion over the incidents of alleged vote padding, in which figures were allegedly added to the total of Anthony Genuino’s votes in three summaries of votes.

Reden Villanueva, a poll watcher for newly elected Councilor Luis Javier, was the first to notice the alleged discrepancy, in which what was supposed to be “867″ votes was changed into “1,867.”

Two other poll watchers reported similar alleged vote-padding incidents, in which “990,” was converted to “1,990,” and “1,000″ became “1,800.”

Ferrer, however, said the incidents could either be an “honest mistake,” or a “set-up,” to make it appear their camp was cheating.

To the objections of some lawyers present, Rojas did not order the complete rechecking of all summaries of votes for discrepancies, and instead, just asked the tabulators to recompute the figures.

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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 two courts at the same time gave Elenita three days to file her reply on the prosecution’s comment.

The motion will then be submitted for resolution, the court ruled during Thursday’s open hearing.

Mrs. Binay faces four graft cases before the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Divisions of the Sandiganbayan.

The Second and Fourth Divisions have yet to hear similar motions she had filed.

During the hearing on Thursday, Mrs. Binay, attended the proceedings along with her friends and supporters. She refused to be interviewed by reporters.

Emmanuel Tamase, Mrs. Binay’s lawyer in her graft case in the Fifth Division, asked the court to hold in abeyance all proceedings in his client’s case pending a decision of their motion for reconsideration on the Ombudsman resolution that recommended Mrs. Binay’s indictment.

Tamase also raised matters that are the subject of the motion for reconsideration he filed with the Office of the Ombudsman.

The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that it was improper for the defense to raise the issue of their appeal before the Ombudsman.

The prosecution said Tamase sounded as if he was exerting undue influence on the court in its determination of the existence of probable cause and issuance of a warrant of arrest against Mrs. Binay.

The prosecutor also pointed out that Sandiganbayan has never suspended the proceedings in a case simply because a motion for reconsideration is still pending before the Ombudsman.

Mrs. Binay appealed to the Sandiganbayan to hold in abeyance all proceedings concerning the four graft cases filed against her including, and beginning with, the determination of probable cause and issuance of warrant of arrest against her.

She also asked the courts to direct the Ombudsman to conduct a re-investigation of her cases.

Mrs. Binay filed the motion in the hope that the Sandiganbayan would give her the same relief as what was given to her husband, Jejomar, who was absolved of graft for lack of basis.

Sun.Star Manila – 2 Sandiganbayan divisions defer hearings on cases v. Binay’s wife

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.

In Tagalog street lingo, Malacañang’s move was garapal (unashamedly barefaced).

* * *
This is not to say Binay is a saint. He has several pending cases with the Ombudsman for plunder.
But Malacañang should have foreseen the consequences of its action. Binay is very popular among his poor constituents. They are willing to die for him because he attends to their needs.
If the police were to make good on their threat to throw him out of City Hall, they would have a rebellion of Makati’s poor on their hands.
The city is the country’s premier town and central business district. When Makati sneezes, the country’s economic and political system gets a cold.
Oh well, the Arroyo administration doesn’t care as long as it is able to show its enemies or detractors who’s the boss.

* * *

The police, in the course of enforcing the suspension order, are courting the ire of the soldiers based in Fort Bonifacio.
Among the people in the barricade are dependents of soldiers in Fort Bonifacio who are beneficiaries of Binay’s spreading of Robin Hood sunshine. Let’s hope the soldiers’ dependents are not hurt during the scuffle for control of City Hall.

Another reason why the Makati standoff should be handled carefully is that Binay is a colonel in the Philippine Marines reserve. He didn’t wear his Marine camouflage uniform Tuesday for nothing. That was to show that he has the sympathy of the Marines since he is one of them.

I heard from my sources at the Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio many enlisted personnel were willing to march to Makati City Hall to show their support for the embattled mayor. They were, however, prevented by their officers and confined to their barracks.

The situation in Makati is a time bomb ready to explode if not handled correctly.

* * *
Who’s this Court of Appeals justice who antedates his decision just so he can delay the promulgation of a case?
Delaying the promulgation means there’s time for the winning litigant, especially in a civil case concerning money, to talk to the justice.
Another justice just sleeps on the cases in his division. Although he doesn’t extort money from litigants, he’s just too lazy to go over the cases. In that case, this justice should be asked to retire.
Let’s hope not all appellate court justices are acting like those two justices.

* * *
Mayor Talib Abo of Parang, Maguindanao had better not show his face in Davao City because Mayor Rodrigo Duterte hates him like the plague.

Duterte suspects Abo of unloading 3.5 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride, popularly known as “shabu,” in the city two months ago.

The controversial Davao mayor has mentioned the Muslim mayor in his radio and TV program.

Suspected drug peddlers mentioned in Duterte’s radio and TV program end up getting killed under mysterious circumstances.

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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.”

Others who showed up at Binay’s side were fellow Metro Manila Mayors JV Ejercito of San Juan and Toby Tiangco, and Representatives Agipito Aquino of Makati and Imee Marcos of Ilocos Norte.

The left-leaning Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance or Bayan), in a statement, vowed to join the barricade at the city hall and held the Arroyo administration responsible for the crisis in Makati.

“We should show that we are all for justice,” the former president said at a press conference. “Jojo (Binay) you can count on my support and prayers.”

“We are all for justice. We have seen the goodness of Mayor (Binay). In my opinion, he’s even a role model,” she said.

“We should all pray for justice,” she added.

House Minority Floor Leader Francis Escudero said the order was “illegal, unlawful, baseless and blatant violation of the law and due process.”

But Makati Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr. saw not politics but greed for money as behind Binay’s suspension.

“I believe that those people behind it are motivated by money,” Locsin said in a phone interview. “They want to remove the entire administration in Makati because they want to steal the money.”

Home to the main business district, Makati generates between P6 billion to P8 billion in annual revenues.

The “more realistic explanation,” said Locsin, was that there are “crooks” in the administration who want to control the economy of Makati.

Asked to identify who these “crooks” are, Locsin said: “These are the same people who want our pork barrel to pass through them.”

“The media should just look at them. Look at their faces and you’ll know. You shouldn’t be scared; they are just human,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan asked the administration to exercise more restraint in handling political dissent, saying moves like Binay’s suspension only increased tensions.

“Political tension will only increase with this latest suspension order. It would be best for the administration to rethink its policy of clamping down on legitimate political dissent. It should exercise greater restraint in dealing with those critical of its policies and programs,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who is in Geneva for the International Parliamentary Union assembly, e-mailed his reaction.

“The suspension of Mayor Jejomar Binay shows ruthless, schizophrenic, hypocritical Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo prosecuting local government officials who are against her while coddling others supporting her. It’s time to use all licit moves to check her abuses,” he said.

Senator Edgardo Angara worried about the repercussions on the country’s international image by what he called an “abuse of the justice system.”

He called the stand-off at the Makati City Hall an “ugly sight in the financial capital of the country, which hosts the offices of many foreign businesses, including the world’s biggest foreign banks.”

“I’m sure the wire services are flashing this news all over the world,” he said.

Both Angara and Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who called Binay’s suspension “pure and simple political persecution,” was an administration crackdown on the opposition in preparation for next year’s elections.

Magsaysay said Binay’s suspension was part of “a selective, partisan suspension of opposition mayors,” citing Pasay City’s Wenceslao Trinidad and Baguio’s Braulio Yaranan, both oppositionists.

In a text message, Escudero said Binay’s suspension was clearly a case of harassment against the administration’s perceived enemies.

“Why does the administration always seem to be looking for a fight and are harassing the opposition? Do they always want to have unrest? And to do it to the main international and local business district. Or do they really want to erase the opposition?” said Escudero in Filipino.

Escudero also lambasted the appointment of an officer-in-charge by the Department Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the city, saying it showed the government’s blatant disregard of the election process and democracy.

During last week’s deliberation of the proposed 2007 budget at the House of Representatives, Escudero questioned why the administration seemed to be going after opposition personalities only.

He pointed out that there were more administration allies with more pending cases before the Office of the Ombudsman but none of them have been charged or suspended from their posts.

Escudero then reiterated his call to the Ombudsman to remain impartial and not single out those in the opposition.

“I will support my mayor because I believe he was falsely accused or falsely suspended. Obviously it is a kind of political harassment because the charges are not very clear,” Representative Aquino, of Makati’s 1st District, said in a chance interview.

Marcos said they were willing to stay with Binay until his suspension is rescinded.

Tiangco and Ejercito did not discount the possibility they could be next in line for suspension.

“Why are we being singled out? Why are they doing this to the opposition?” Tiangco asked.

“They do this to those who appear to be unbeatable in the 2007 elections,” Ejercito said.

“I just hope that the people would be wary, even the media, that we have now not only a stealing, not only a cheating, not only a lying Presidency, but we also have now a killing presidency. It is time to wake up,” Ejercito added, referring to the spate of killings he says has gone beyond targeting activists and journalists to including the political opposition.

“Political persecution under this administration knows no bounds. The obvious thing is that the suspension order is politically motivated and is intended to weaken an opposition base,” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes.

“We hold the Arroyo regime directly responsible for the crisis and standoff in Makati. This is wholesale political persecution. This is the executive massacre of local officials opposed to the administration. If unchecked, other opposition officials might suffer the same fate,” he added.

Reyes also condemned the manner by which the suspension order was served.

“The administration knows that the only way for its illegal orders to be implemented is through coercion and intimidation. What they did at dawn today was cowardly to say the least,” Reyes said.

He said the people saw through the action and were enraged by it.

“Everyone knows that Malacañang is sponsoring an election slate in Makati against the oppositionist Binays. The suspension order will surely benefit election rivals sponsored by the Palace,” Reyes said.

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