No More Binay? Mayor JunJun steps down temporarily

NO MORE BINAY: Mayor JunJun Binay temporarily steps down as Mayor of Makati City (Photo courtesy of Mark Salazar / Twitter)

MANILA — “Ako ay pansamantalang bababa sa pwesto.”

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin ‘JunJun’ Binay Jr. announced Wednesday morning that he will temporarily step down as Mayor of Makati as he awaits the decision of the Court of Appeals regarding his request of a temporary restraining order on his suspension issued Monday by the Ombudsman.

Inside the Makati City Hall where he has been holed up the last two days, Mayor Binay stood in the presence of his father, Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay; his mother Elenita, and sisters Sen. Nancy Binay and Makati Rep. Abigail Binay to hold a televised press conference.

He announced, “Ako ay pansamantalang bababa sa pwesto (I will temporarily step down from my post).”

“Lagi kong sinasabi na human rights lawyer ang aking ama. Huwag natin tularan ang [ibang tao sa] pulitika na ginagamit ang buong pwersa ng gobyerno (I always say that my father is a human rights lawyer. Let us not be like other politicians who use the force of the government),” Binay said.

Later on, Binay and his family stepped out of the City Hall to address the throngs of supporters waiting for them outside.

“Hindi po dito nagtatapos ang laban natin. Hindi po namin kayo iiwan. Masakit man po, kailangan po nating gawin… Di ko kayang tiisin na may nasasaktan, may karahasan sa lungsod at naabala ang mamamayan,” the younger Binay announced to the people.

(Our fight does not end here. We will not leave you. It may be painful, but this is something we have to do… I can no longer bear seeing people getting hurt, violence in our city, our people inconvenienced.)

After his speech, he hugged his father and together faced the crowd who are chanting “Binay! Binay! Binay!”