Makati execs reject acting mayor Palace defends Binay’s suspension

MANILA, Philippines - A memorandum signed last Thursday by Makati Vice Mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña informing members of the city council and the different departments of the city government that he is now the “acting mayor” was rejected by its recipients.

Malacañang, on the other hand, said the Office of the Ombudsman has made it clear that the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) to stop Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay’s suspension no longer has any effect.

It is now Binay against the ombudsman, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday over radio station dzRB.

“It think the ombudsman has made itself very clear and the DILG, as the department tasked by the ombudsman to implement the order, has done it,” she said.

Valte said as far as the three institutions are concerned, the TRO “no longer has any effect because the vice mayor has taken his oath” as acting mayor.

She refused to comment on Binay’s call to follow the rule of law even as he was the one who challenged the six-month suspension order issued by the ombudsman.

The CA issued the TRO in response to Binay’s petition for review of the charges of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the service filed against him and 22 other former and current city government officials in connection with the allegedly overpriced P2.8-billion city hall parking building.

Only one mayor

Acting city administrator Vissia Marie Aldon said yesterday the city councilors, department heads and division chiefs of the city government of Makati have refused to accept Peña’s memorandum.

In his memorandum dated March 19, Peña informed city officials he assumed the post of acting mayor and cited the move’s legal bases, including issuances from the DOJ, the ombudsman, and the DILG.   

Aldon, who was appointed by Binay on March 16 to replace Eleno Mendoza Jr., said the different offices and departments of the city government will not heed Peña’s memo, including his directive for all city officials to submit to him for approval all city ordinances, official documents and official actions.

“We recognize… Binay as the chief executive of Makati. We have to respect the decision of the courts. To us city officials, not once did Makati have two mayors. We only have one mayor, and that is Mayor Binay,” Aldon said.

Aldon has assured Makati City residents and the public that the city government continues to function normally, with all its departments and offices carrying out their respective tasks.

Impact on economy?

Meanwhile, Makati City spokesman Joey Salgado yesterday said the ongoing standoff between Peña and Binay is causing “long-term impact” not only on Makati’s local economy but on the national economy as well.

“We all know how important Makati is to the Philippine economy, being the country’s financial center. We have every reason to worry about the negative perception being created in the minds of foreign investors by this situation where the executive department, the DILG secretary no less, for political purposes is impeding services and willfully violating an order of the court. What signal does that send to foreign investors?” Salgado said, referring to Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

He also reiterated Binay’s objection to the DILG’s letter to the Land Bank of the Philippines notifying bank officials of the mayor’s six-month suspension and his replacement by Peña as acting mayor.

Salgado said the DILG went “beyond the mandate” given to it by the ombudsman, which is to serve the suspension order, by issuing the letter.

He said the city government remains confident that the bank will respect the TRO.

DOJ defends opinion

On the other hand, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima denied insinuations that the legal opinion she issued on the TRO was unconstitutional.

“How can the act of rendering an opinion be unconstitutional? It does not purport to adjudicate or bind any one. It is an opinion. It is advisory in nature,” she said in a speech before the district conference of the Rotary International District 3800 on Friday.

She said her legal opinion does not violate the separation of powers when the request was made by the DILG “on what recent developments mean for them when it comes to the leadership of a local government unit.”

She also defended Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, a former associate justice of the Supreme Court, whose suspension order against Binay was supposed to have taken effect on March 16, ahead of the TRO. 

“Let the Office of the Ombudsman do its job. It is difficult enough to hold powerful people accountable, let us not make it more difficult by allowing court processes to be used to derail its investigations,” De Lima said.

She said courts are not supposed to interfere unless the ombudsman acted without jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion.

De Lima cited a provision in Republic Act 6770, the Ombudsman Act of 1989, which expressly prohibits the issuance of injunctions, such as a TRO, by any court, that would delay an investigation being conducted, unless the subject matter of the investigation is apparently outside the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Notice of suspension not served

The camp of the mayor’s father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, believes the DILG did not properly serve the suspension notice.

Lawyer Rico Quicho, the elder Binay’s spokesperson for political affairs, said in a radio interview with STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc yesterday that the DILG was not able to comply with the rules on how to serve a notice.

“Based on our rules of court, there are two ways to serve the notice,” he said in Filipino. “First is through personal service… If that is not possible, then there is the substitute service, which is through registered mail.”

But according to Quicho, the DILG simply posted the notice of suspension against the mayor and swore in Peña as acting mayor.

“That is not valid,” he said. – With Janvic Mateo