Former Vice President Jejomar Binay said Monday he will let his son Erwin “Junjun” Binay run against his sister, incumbent Mayor Abigail B. Campos, in Makati City during the 2019 midterm elections.
“I will let the people of Makati decide,” Binay said in a statement sent to the press.
Binay said he respects the decision of both his children to run for mayor in the May 2019 elections and will leave it up to the people of Makati to choose who best deserves the mandate.
Abigail has declared her decision to seek reelection as the official candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance, the former vice president’s party, while Junjun, who was elected mayor in 2013, has also decided to join the race as the candidate of his local party, Una ang Makati.
“I respect their decision to run for mayor. I am not the one who will decide who will be the rightful leader of the city. The people of Makati will be the one who will decide,” the elder Binay added.
He said both his children have proven themselves to be competent and experienced in government service.
The former vice president said he does not intend to impose his opinion on his children because both are already of age and capable of making decisions for themselves. As a parent, all he can do is to give them advice, he said.
Binay, who served as Makati mayor before he won as Vice President in 2010, revealed that both camps have come to an agreement to maintain civility and sobriety while campaigning by solely focusing on their respective platforms and plans for the city and its people.
Campaign leaders and supporters will be asked to refrain from engaging in mudslinging and destructive propaganda, and instead keep the campaign positive and peaceful, he added.
Binay also expressed their collective commitment to making Makati a model of clean and honest elections.
He said his family would remain strong and intact, and would not be divided by politics.
Abigail said their family had a meeting over the weekend, but she did not go. She said she spoke separately with her father instead.
The mayor also said their father wanted Junjun to run for a congressional seat instead so that the former vice president would not have to, but her brother wanted the mayoral post.
Junjun, who thanked his father for respecting the voters of Makati said earlier he was ready to run against his sister to maintain the “Binay-brand” of governance in Makati.
“The decision of my father shows his respect for the people of Makati and is consistent with the character of a public servant who had dedicated his life to Makati and has worked tirelessly for the welfare of its residents,” said Junjun who also announced his plan to file his COC for the top post of Makati on Tuesday.
In May, the Court of Appeals issued a resolution reversing the 2015 decision dismissing Junjun and several other city officials and barring them from holding public office in connection with the construction of Makati City Hall Building II.
The CA, in its 159-page decision written by Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon, reversed the 2015 ruling of the Office of the Ombudsman, saying (Junjun) Binay is still covered by the 2010 Supreme Court decision that reiterated its 1959 condonation doctrine which extinguishes the administrative liability of an elective public official once reelected to the same post.
In 2016, Abby was replaced by her husband Luis Campos as a representative in the second district of Makati when she ran and won for mayor against Romulo Pena Jr., who will challenge the former vice president in the first congressional district of the city in the coming elections.
Abigail is the fourth in the Binay family elected mayor in Makati. First was her father followed by her mother Dr. Elenita Binay, and the last one was Junjun.
Makati, a city with more than 370,000 registered voters, has been a stronghold of Binays since the Vice President was appointed by then late President Corazon Aquino as its officer-in-charge in 1986.
