Vice President Jejomar Binay used his son Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay’s current situatiion to emphasize that upholding the rule of law is a prerequisite to progress.
Speaking before 2,000 lawyers around the country during the 15th national Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) convention at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City early today, the Vice President lambasted the Ombudsman and the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) for ignoring a temporary restraining order issued by the Court of Appeals against the 60-day suspension order issued to his son by the Ombudsman.
Binay praised the CA’s independence in issuing the TRO favoring his son and likened it to the IBP’s independence in opposing the executive department’s attempts at intimidating and controling the judiciary in the wake of the impeachment of former chief justice Renato Corona.
“Our IBP has never been found wanting in all the times that the rule of law had come under assault from the abusive arm of government,” Binay said, adding that lawyers are the primordial advocates and defenders of the rule of law “without which justice can never prevail.”
Whle lambasting as “arrogant” the Ombudsman and DILG’s insistence that the suspension order stays in effect since it was issued ahead of the CA’s TRO, Binay said he is thankful that the lawyers are asseting the supremacy of the court order over the unilateral interpretations of the Ombudsman and DILG, “The effort of the bar assures society that there is an institution that is ready to defend the separation of powers,” Binay said.
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