I’ll bet on Jobama

Written on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 8:15 am | by Abe N. Margallo

I had the following exchange with The Ca t at mlq3’s blogsite in May 2007 about a “preventive suspension” issued by the Ombudsman a week before a mayoral election in Makati City the incumbent Mayor Jojo Binay was certain to win. Makati is one of the premier cities in the world of which Binay, the subject of the suspension, has been the chief executive for two decades.

The Cat was harsh but apparently clueless of the mayor’s true grit. She rushed to charge that the mayor “would rather hide behind his loyalists.”

“What a coward,” she continued. “Parang bata. Tapang lang pag may mga nakatakip sa kaniyang mga tao.”

I replied to The Cat to set the record straight:

Cat, you don’t seem to know what you are talking about.

When Marcos declared martial law, one American official was reported to have said that the Philippines is a country composed “of 40 million cowards and one son of a bitch,” claiming that not a single Filipino has risen to fight the destroyer of their freedom.

Indeed, during the dark days of the dictatorship, many Filipinos cowered in fear and many more Marcos turned into cowards. I have known personally Jojo Binay as a nameless human rights lawyer at that time defending victims of the tyranny.

Marcos might have hidden “behind his loyalists” but not Jojo because then, as now, he’s a son of a bitch even when fighting for his or others’ rights - by himself.

The year before, or in 2006, Binay was ranked fourth as “World Mayor” by a London-based international think tank on urban affairs, the City Mayors. But the well-esteemed mayor has become a thorn in the side of the Palace. So, the political persecution of Mayor Binay by the Arroyo administration did not come as a surprise; it was not Binay’s first time.

On October 17, 2006, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) of the Arroyo government also suspended the gutsy and popular mayor, his vice mayor and all his councilors for allegedly hiring ghost employees. Binay denounced the suspension and said he would not follow the “illegal order.”

“They might as well kill me here but I will never run away from this fight.”

In connection with the heightening imbroglio then (Binay has staged a mini “people power” in the country’s financial capital to protest his suspension), Manolo Quezon reposted in his blog an old piece he had written (in 2001) about the mayor:

This writer once accompanied a sortie made by candidate Locsin, and ran into Jejomar Binay, who knows that this writer has been no fan of Binay. But Binay, instead of pandering to this writer, merely acknowledged that they once stood on opposite camps: “So, you are the one who has hit me, and hit me hard in what you have written,” he said to me, and then finished off by saying, “good.”

Sitting beside Binay as he sat down and shoveled rice into his mouth is to see why all the earnestness of people like this writer will amount to nothing compared to what people like Binay do. In between handfuls of rice Binay’s eyes rove, and his mind probes: “Two corners away, there is garbage on the sidewalk,” he informs an anxious Barangay Kagawad; and then, pointing to mass housing he has put up and been attacked for having set up, he points to a street lamp and tells another nervous local leader, “that lamp has burned out and needs a new bulb.” He gulps down some water, and then looks up at the ceiling: “when was this barangay hall last painted? You have adequate funds, why haven’t you attended to this?” People are not only kept on their toes; they are doomed to accountability.

The writer must confess to renewed respect for Binay, whom this writer observed in action even when Binay no longer knew that this writer was observing him. It is not just palabas on Binay’s part; it is the nitty-gritty, the hard work, the attention to detail that wins loyalty house by house, street by street, barangay by barangay and returns an overwhelming mandate election by election.

In the exchanges that ensued in the same blog thread, I reacted in the following:

When Jojo Binay said he would have to be killed first before being forced from his office, he meant it. I just know. It’s vintage Jojo.

The Jojo Binay that I knew more than two decades ago was someone whose guts I couldn’t simply catch up with. A nondescript lawyer at the height of Marcos dictatorship, he defended alone or with a handful of activist-lawyers some of Marcos’ harshest critics. He was relentless in his quest and on certain instances he would spend his own money if only to make the right to counsel of his poor but deserving clients a living reality. Jojo and Rene Saguisag (who were pals) in their own perilous pursuits were like the crusading streetwise cops Starsky and Hutch. We were their junior helpers.

I watched Jojo, his size notwithstanding, refusing to back out of physical encounters with mean toughies, whether they were the feared goons of Marcos lieutenants or some drunkards or bullies raising havoc in his backyard.

I have not seen, or talked to, the man for more than 20 years although I passed by his office many times whenever I’ve been in Makati; I had nothing important to tell him and didn’t want to waste his time. That’s how I respect the man and his position.

I have heard some claiming that Jojo has somehow succumbed to human frailties as a public servant. Maybe, maybe not. I really have no idea. There’s something I’m quite certain though. He has served his city better than most Filipino presidents have served the country.

Many a time I have fancied that Jojo could be the alternative to GMA the Filipinos are looking for. Well, accidents do happen, you know. He’s a wild horse, but given the status quo I’ll bet on him.

That was two years ago. Before the Obamania.

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About The Author: Abe N. Margallo is a teacher, lawyer, author, columnist, and activist. When not running, advising community associations, or teaching, he studies events, and reacts accordingly by writing, blogging (at Red’s Herring) or acting on them, alone or with others

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Comments

17 Responses to “I’ll bet on Jobama”

  1. hector olympus on November 12th, 2008 9:51 am

    man, he might have been really, really serious about running.

    about a month ago, a relative from one small town (end part of nueva ecija) sent me a message that Jojo Binay is in town. There i was thinking, what the h*ll is Makati’s Binay doing in a faraway land beyond his territory?

    the answer is yesterday’s proclamation that he is running in 2010.

    i’m not sure if he can make it to the top post. but i hope he should start as a senator. i am sure to bet on him, too.

  2. baycas on November 12th, 2008 10:03 am

    Ramborack Jobama i’ll call him.

  3. Jeg on November 12th, 2008 10:24 am

    This raises the question: What does this country need? A president or a king? BF and Binay have the makings of being kings. If kings are what we need, they could be the men for the job. Throw in Ping Lacson into the mix, and we might as well adopt how the Holy Roman Empire elected the emperor.

    (For the record, I prefer a president. But if our people decide that a king is what we need, then…)

  4. hector olympus on November 12th, 2008 10:56 am

    bf vs binay.

    what a match.

    let’s get it on!

  5. psalm on November 12th, 2008 10:56 am

    i think he can be a good leader… has strong qualities.. if he can show us concrete policies for our country to progress, then why not! hey, jobama, start camp[aning now… u may be the one our country needs…

  6. leytenian on November 12th, 2008 11:00 am

    Both Binay and Fernando are good enough at their current employment. We don’t need to help them to raise to the top. They should prove themselves and express themselves to the people not the other way around. Let’s keep our mind open and let them debate, our role is to listen and prepare. At this time, let’s prepare questions for all of them. Questions should be focused on economy, human rights, environment, business and peace in Mindanao.I wish we have debates on TV like Obama and McCain?

  7. leytenian on November 12th, 2008 11:07 am

    I kinda like how Binay was presented here in this blog. I guess Abe is a better marketer than blackshama? :)

  8. Jeg on November 12th, 2008 11:21 am

    Pfsh. Blackshama’s was satire, leytenian. Abe is a bit more serious about Binay.

  9. The Ca t on November 12th, 2008 12:10 pm

    After the EDSA, it became a practice of the government officials, elective and appointive to use people in their fight to cling to their positions.

    Binay is one of them.

    He may have been a fearless human rights lawyer during the time of MArcos and so were Joker Arroyo, Diokno and other names I could not recall.

    .

    People do change once they tasted the intoxicating spirit of power.

    My brother also marched with F Barican who became a staunch defender of Erap when he was his cabinet member; Richard Gordon, the mayor who became a congressman and senator from Zambales and other youth who died because they were not afraid to face the Marcos riot squad during demonstrations in Mendiola.

    And he can tell you that he’s disappointed for what many activists had become.

    The former activists who condemned political dynasties have their own dynasties to protect their interest.

    Look at the Makati kingdom with Binay as mayor and the wife as congressman and the son in the Makati council.

    If I remember right, I was more outspoken about the alleged ghost employees in Makati city hall. I believed on the existence of ghost employees no matter what denial he made.

    And I still believe na nagtago pa rin siya sa mga likod ng mga tao niya which he had been using every time there were demonstrations in MAkati.

    The hakot crowd aka mini-people power spun a cottage industry of paid demonstrators…mostly coming from the depressed areas.

    For a mayor, a simple memo can easily mobilize civil service people at a short notice.

    I have friends who are Makati government employees.

  10. Jeg on November 12th, 2008 12:13 pm

    He may have been a fearless human rights lawyer during the time of MArcos and so were Joker Arroyo…

    Im afraid The Cat’s got you there, Abe.

  11. mlq3 on November 12th, 2008 12:59 pm

    Binay was in Bacolod around the time I was last there. I hear he’d presented himself to the Ilocanos but his Tagalog “pa-humble effect” style did not impress Ilocoslovakia, which likes their leaders to be more assertive.

    Let me add one anecdote from 2006, when the Palace wanted to prevent a march in Makati to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Edsa. The march kept getting halted by riot police; at one point, they started clubbing people. I was in the second row ducking the billyclubs when a blur streaked in from behind us -it was Binay, and basically, he singlehandedly tackled a battalion of riot police.

    They fell back, and then he negotiated their withdrawal to Edsa.

  12. Abe N. Margallo on November 12th, 2008 1:26 pm

    Cat,

    Joker, Diokno, Tañada, Salonga, David were nationally known lawyers then and their prominence was enough to protect them from the worst of Marcos. Jojo was nondescript and could have been liquidated anytime by the regime. But he didn’t care; he just went on defending equally nondescript Marcos opponents. That’s the difference.

    Believing that someone has committed something wrong or his character is flawed is not enough, ask Bencard.

    btw, are Binay’s relatives serving the people of Makati because someone like Garci made it possible or they won their offices fair and square?

    And is it wrong for GMA to be president or his son and brother-in-law to be congressmen because her father was once president?

  13. PG on November 12th, 2008 1:43 pm

    He seems to have the record and the experience. Look at Makati.

  14. DJB on November 12th, 2008 2:03 pm

    Obinay is Nobama.
    He is as corrupt as Mayor Daley.

  15. Penstalker on November 12th, 2008 4:30 pm

    The 2010 Presidential elections will again be down to the “least evil” option. And if Binay proves to be the least evil, then I say “why not?”

  16. The Ca t on November 12th, 2008 5:13 pm

    btw, are Binay’s relatives serving the people of Makati because someone like Garci made it possible or they won their offices fair and square?

    But Garci is just one of the Gs in winning politics.

    you still have three, Guns, Gold and Goons

  17. BrianB on November 12th, 2008 8:08 pm

    I’m thinking he’d be better off as a provincial governor, not a president. A man like Binay, you’d have to make sure first he agrees with your principles. Like Lim, if you have different beliefs and a different personality, patay ka.

    Don’t compare him to Obama. Lim, the Chinese, is his twin.

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