EDITORIAL – The toll will be heavy for Binay in 2016

At the time this was written yesterday, the Ombudsman order suspending Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay on graft charges was yet to be served. Binay had sought court intervention against the order and in the meantime holed himself up at the Makati City Hall, surrounding himself with hundreds of supporters. His father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, also holed himself there with his son.

How things would eventually turn out for the younger Binay is not of so much importance to the nation as how things would turn out for the vice president. The elder Binay, after all, is a declared candidate for the presidency in the 2016 elections. His every word and act is therefore a matter of public interest and deserving of the closest scrutiny.

The Makati City Hall standoff, while involving only the son, at least for now, is as much a test for the father as well. In fact, it is far more of a test for the father than it is for the son. Every eye and every ear is focused and tuned in to what the elder Binay does and says. And the elder Binay better believe that what the entire nation will see and hear will have a bearing on how the nation makes its choices in 2016.

There are those who believe, not the least of which is the Binay family itself, that the timing of the suspension order was suspicious, coming as it did at the height of the Mamasapano controversy in which no less than the president, Noynoy Aquino, has figured prominently.

There are those who believe, not the least of which is the Binay family itself, that the suspension was issued to deflect attention away from a beleaguered president facing mounting calls for his resignation.

But even granting, for the sake of the argument, that politics had something to do with the timing of the suspension order, the very open resistance exhibited by the Binay family against a lawful, if potentially politically-tainted order, has no other direction to go except to backfire on the face of the vice president. He will be held to account during the campaign for the words and actions that he will say and do today.

Besides, the very open defiance shown by the Binays actually places them on the spot. They are either caught in a contradiction or have been caught lying. One of the most potent arguments the Binays used to have in refusing to dignify that shamefully biased political witchhunt three members of the Senate launched against their family was that they would rather face the charges against them in the appropriate forum.

Well, there it is, the proper forum has taken cognizance of the charges and has issued a preventive suspension against the son, so why is the family, the vice president in particular, not taking cognizance of the authority exercised by the Ombudsman? If the elder Binay wants to earn the trust of the nation so he can become the next president, he must first and foremost be able to show a willingness to respect and uphold the law and all legal issuances even if it hurts.