The defenses of VP
Binay analyzed:
1.
Defense No. 1. - Allegations of Plunder against
Vice President Jejomar Binay committed when he was still mayor of Makati cannot
be used as a basis for his impeachment. Binay could only be ousted for
irregular acts committed by him as Vice President.
COMMENT:
Impeachment is an impractical remedy at
this time. No one in Congress or in
Civil Society is talking about impeachment now. National elections will already
be held in May next year. There is no more time for impeachment.
The crime of Plunder is punishable by Reclusion Perpetua. (Sec. 1, R.A. 7080).
The prescriptive period for Plunder is 20 years. (Sec. 6, R.A. 7080). The right
of the State to recover properties
unlawfully acquired by public officers from them or from their nominees
or transferees is not be barred by
prescription, laches or estoppel. (Id.).
2.
Defense No. 2. - The past re-elections of
Binay as Makati City mayor negates whatever impeachment grounds may be raised
against him. He is immune from suit. He could not be slapped with
criminal charges while he sits as Vice President. He must be impeached first.
COMMENT:
We are not talking of
impeachment here and now. We are talking of a criminal investigation and
prosecution for the crime of Plunder.
A “spare tire” in the
Executive Department is not immune from suit. The Constitution does not provide
that the Vice President is immune from suit. Jurisprudence has not vested the
Vice President with immunity from suit. (Jurisprudence declares that the
President is immune from suit, though).
The election of Binay as a
“spare tire” (i.e., Vice President) in
the Executive Department or his past re-elections as Makati City mayor did not
exempt him from criminal investigation, prosecution, and liability. The
Constitution and Jurisprudence do not give him that special status. No one is
above the law. The justice system exempts no criminals from prosecution. The
moving principles behind the Constitution are accountability and justice.
3. Defense
No. 3. - The Ombudsman is hell bent on filing a plunder case against Binay.
The Ombudsman is not giving Binay ample time to explain himself. The Malacanang
Palace (Office of the President), the Liberal Party, the Senate, the Department
of Justice (DOJ), and the Office of the Ombudsman are conspiring to oust him from office.
COMMENT:
The incumbent Ombudsman is a
trustworthy Jurist. She served the Judiciary with distinction and integrity
during the years when the Binay Political Dynasty was raiding the Makati City
coffers. Between the self-serving words of Binay and the independent mind and
untainted image of the Ombudsman, the Filipinos believe the latter.
The Ombudsman is not stupid
enough to deprive Binay of the due process and equal protection clauses of the
Constitution or the procedural provisions of the Ombudsman Act of 1989.
Binay is hallucinating in
charging the whole Government of conspiracy. A paranoid and a political narcissist,
Binay suffers from a delusion of moral purity.
