Binay should thank his enemies

Read this from Max Soliven.

You know the administration screwed up when PHILSTAR columinists are criticizing the ARroyo admin for their stupidity.

From Ana Marie Pamintuan:

For once a temporary restraining order is most welcome. Many people — including the fools in the administration, we hope — breathed a sigh of relief after the Court of Appeals issued a TRO suspending for 60 days the 60-day suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

The TRO spared Malacañang from what was shaping up to be another embarrassing confrontation with the opposition. If the standoff had lasted longer, the administration might have given opposition forces the unifying martyr that they have lacked since taking on Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last year.

The genius who thought of suspending the head of the United Opposition a few months before the start of the campaign period for the midterm elections (and with Christmas virtually just around the corner!) should be banished pronto from his post by President Arroyo, and without the courtesy of a goodbye.

Sabi ni Cito Beltran:

In a season of Cabinet reshuffles, the people who deserve to be promoted are Executive Secretary Ed Ermita and DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno.

Mayor Jojo Binay should actually kiss the butt of these guys for successfully promoting the great achievements of Binay as Mayor of Makati.

After suspending Binay for 60 days, people in media who are Makati residents started to make comparisons and unanimously began to praise the yellow card, free hospitalization, superb facilities of the Makati Hospital, free movies for senior citizens etc.

Ermita and Puno also deserve praise for succeeding to do what no oppositionist could do in the last six months. The Dual genius actually reunited, resurrected, and revived an almost dead opposition.

Ermita and Puno also succeeded in launching the senatorial slate of the opposition, drawing out Cory Aquino, giving her air time and an opportunity to take a dig at her single biggest regret in politics, launching the political career of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Magagaling talaga ang mga geniuses sa Malacanang at mga arroyo defenders sa blogosphere. They've managed to turn Binay into a hero and a martyr.

Good work boys!

I've always said na if you allow this corrupt admin to survive, gaganti yan sa mga kritiko niyan sooner or later. Let's "move on" na is just a slogan designed by the arroyo supporters to deceive the public into allowing arroyo off the hook, to allow the garci beneficiaries to reconsitute and launch a counter-attack against Arroyo's critics.

In the WOT, that's called a Hudna.

And when Arroyo defenders say they do not reaally realllly like Arroyo, they are actually practicing Taqiyya.

More: I must say though that I admire the administration's bold moves. they were really going for the kill. if they had succeeded in taking out binay, one of the leaders of the opposition, it would been a huge triumph for the admin...

Read this too: Manila's street fighting mayor: a thorn in president's side

by Karl Wilson of the AFP

Malaya Editorial: It's a fight to the Finish

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno are now being demonized for the hasty suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay on flimsy charges of hiring "ghost" employees. The two very well deserve to be pilloried for the clearly politically motivated attempt to put away one of the most consistent critics of their principal. This should not, however, make us lose sight of the fact that it is Gloria Arroyo who is behind the systematic efforts to crush any opposition to her corrupt and illegitimate administration.

In the Binay case, Gloria has been trying hard to keep her hands hidden. The Local Government Code, however, clearly says it is only the President who can suspend officials of chartered cities. She cannot hide behind the signature of Ermita which appears on the suspension order.

Binay, after securing a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals, was realistic enough to recognize that this was just Round 1. Binay wistfully said he hoped there would be no Round 2, but deep in his heart he should know that this is a fight to the finish.

Read this too from Manong Ernie.

And finally, from Lito Banayo:

See what one man’s courage can do? By fighting for his rights under what ought to be the rule of law, and not budging an inch against the onslaught of superior albeit illegitimate force, one man’s courage can infect many.

This is the lesson one gets from the siege of Makati. It is a lesson that the rest of the opposition, and by that I do not mean the trapos hoping to get back to power, or the swift balimbings who want to return to the proper fold. By opposition I mean the decent elements of civil society, the religious sector, the principled men and women of the political opposition, the exploited public servants, both civilian and military, and the masa who see no hope under this wretchedly-run administration. One man’s courage can move mountains.

WORD!

UPDATE: From Conrad de Quiros:

I heard the exchange between Binay and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno last Tuesday night, during the first day of Binay’s suspension, and nothing could be more damning for government. To say that Binay reduced Puno to fumbling inarticulateness is to say Gonzalez is not always in the full possession of his senses: It is the understatement of the year. After Binay repeatedly challenged Puno to show proof of a ghost employee under his watch, indeed after demanding to know what kind of investigation was conducted for Puno to conclude wrongdoing on Binay’s part, Puno tried to exculpate himself by blaming his bosses for the crime. He wasn’t the one who fired Binay, he said at length, Malacañang did.

This was after one public official after another had been reciting like a mantra that there was nothing “political” about the suspension of Binay. The dismissal of a local official signed by the executive secretary and not by the secretary of the DILG—an astonishing usurpation of authority—is not political? The attempt to dismiss a duly elected official who happens to be a thorn in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s side by GMA herself—by Puno’s own suggestion—is not political?

And this is my favorite, from Neal Cruz:

WHATEVER MALACAÑANG AND ITS LAWYERS and allies say to justify the attempted suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, it will smack of oppression and dirty politics. The suspension of duly elected officials was allowed under our laws to prevent them from tampering with documents and other evidence, such as receipts, while their case is being investigated. Perfectly sensible.

But the charge against Binay is that he has “ghost employees.” It is a simple matter of asking the mayor to produce the workers in the city’s payroll and prove that they are warm bodies and not ghosts. Failing that, then he should be declared guilty. There are no documents or evidence relating to the case that he can tamper with. Therefore, there is no need to suspend him and disrupt the delivery of basic services to the people of Makati. In fact, he can still be prosecuted for having ghost employees even while he remains the mayor of Makati.

Besides, the complainant in the case, perennial losing candidate Bobby Brillante, is not even sure if there are ghost employees and who they are. His complaint only presents the names in the payroll and says that “some of them are ghost employees.” Some of them! A regular court would have thrown the complaint into a waste basket then and there. But Malacañang, without even trying to get the side of Binay, or asking Brillante who these ghost employees were, immediately suspended Binay. That was a denial of due process guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

That’s why Binay went to the Court of Appeals. Who are these ghost employees? Let Brillante identify them. Then, presumably, Binay would present them one by one to the investigating body to prove that they are real people, alive and kicking, and not ghosts. If he fails to produce even one of them, then he will be proven guilty.

But Brillante, until now, has not produced a list of the alleged ghost employees, even though All Saints’ Day is just around the corner. If he is sure of his facts, it is a simple matter of ticking off the names of the ghosts. Why can’t he?

Because the real purpose of Malacañang is not to identify the ghosts and prove corruption but just to suspend Binay and get him out of the Makati City Hall before the election period ban on suspensions kicks in. The start of the ban is only weeks away. That is why Malacañang is in a hurry.