Got a tip? Send it to us at manila@coconuts.co.
This already-screwed-up situation is getting worse.
“Makati City now appears to have two mayors after the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that Mayor Junjun Binay should stay suspended despite getting a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals (CA) earlier in the day,” reports ABS-CBNnews.com.
DILG Regional Director Rene Brion served the order of the Office of the Ombudsman to place Binay under preventive suspension for 6 months on sometime around 9am on Mon, Mar 16. Vice Mayor Romulo Peña subsequently took his oath to be Makati City’s acting mayor at 9:47am.
However, about three hours after Peña took his oath, the CA issued a 60-day TRO on the Ombudsman’s 6-month suspension order on Binay.
The report noted: “Binay’s preventive suspension is in connection with the anti-graft body’s preliminary investigation into administrative charges against the Makati mayor and several others for the allegedly overpriced PHP2.2 billion Makati City Hall Building II.”
The DILG said in a statement, “The order of the Ombudsman has already been carried out. Hence, there is nothing to restrain.” It added that “the case will be referred to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for her opinion.”
For now, the DILG recognizes Peña as acting mayor of Makati.
