Ombudsman tells Makati Mayor JunJun Binay to quietly vacate his office

Makati Mayor Erwin Binay show a minor bruise and pacifies supporters after he was brought to the Senate plenary when he refused to testify at the Senate hearing on Thursday (January 29, 2015) at the Senate Building in Pasay City. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — The Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) on Thursday appealed to Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay, Jr. to just follow the suspension order imposed on him and quietly vacate his office.

The Ombudsman on Wednesday preventively suspended Binay for six months for the graft and plunder cases filed against him in connection with the alleged “overpriced” Makati City Hall Building II.

Assistant Ombudsman Asryman Rafanan stressed that the suspension against the mayor was not hastily done.

The camp of the Binays earlier accused the Ombudsman of allegedly hastily imposing the suspension against Mayor Binay and described it as “politically motivated”.

However, the Ombudsman official said that the suspension order imposed on the mayor had no “political color”, instead, it was based on the merit of the cases filed against the same.

At the same time, the Ombudsman ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to serve the suspension order against Mayor Binay within a period of five days from Wednesday.

This was despite the filing of a petition for certiorari by the Makati City mayor before the Court of Appeals (CA) on Wednesday seeking to stop the suspension order issued against him by the Ombudsman.

According to Rafanan, those who do not comply with the order of the Ombudsman, can be cited “in contempt”.