One could argue that Makati is a microcosm of the Philippines in the sense that despite the social disparity, the rich and the poor are still able to exist side by side, so to speak. The country could learn from Makati mayor Jejomar Binay, whose adept balancing act has enabled both the rich and poor to coexist with relative harmony. The rich may not like the mayor, but they know he is enormously popular because he makes things happen for Makati’s underprivileged. He has a lot of pro-poor programs like the Yellow Card which gives free hospitalization and other medical benefits. Senior citizens get perks like free access to movies, field trips and birthday cakes. Even the dead still get help with the BLU card program that provides free burial assistance. Public schools have computers and the city has a P1 billion special education fund. These things have been so popular and successful that other local government officials have initiated copycat programs in their own cities.
Jojo Binay has been in power since 1986, and his opponents have tried so hard to dislodge him. They have practically thrown everything at Jojo, even the kitchen sink – yet they could not remove him because he is enormously popular with Makati residents, especially the poor. That’s why when his wife, Dr. Elenita Binay ran in his place in 1998, she won the mayoralty race handily. Binay was back in office in 2001, running city hall as if his tenure had not been interrupted at all. Jojo and I had lunch about a year ago and he told me that all these years he has never stopped his routine of waking up at six o’ clock to have coffee with jeepney drivers and street vendors. He would attend wakes, using the occasion to touch base with constituents. These have obviously earned him additional political mileage but it was a feedback mechanism that allowed him to see people up close and know first hand what was happening in the barangays – something which not many politicians can claim.
Ironically, Jojo’s stint as a mayor started when Cory Aquino appointed him as officer-in-charge in 1986, replacing then mayor Nemesio Yabut who died on the day Marcos left the country on February 25, 1986. Cory replaced mayors identified with the Marcos regime shortly after EDSA I and appointed her own people. I remember Joseph Estrada, when he first set foot in Malacañang, told us, "Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to live here." He was happy just being mayor of San Juan but he found himself being unceremoniously removed from office right after EDSA I. When Erap could no longer fight city hall, or Malacañang in this case with Cory Aquino’s sweeping powers, he decided right there and then to run for a national office. When he won as senator, it opened his eyes and made him decide one day he was going to be president. To this day, he continues to thank Cory for removing him as mayor of San Juan.
Perhaps Jojo Binay saw himself in a similar situation with the suspension order perceived as persecution from the elite and powerful. The Court of Appeals decision granting him a TRO probably came as a relief even to Malacañang for it averted what could have easily blown up into a class war. In a manner of speaking, the social disparity in Makati is just a reflection of the situation in many parts of the country. Take Nasugbu, Batangas for instance, where wealthy villages along the coast exist side by side with poor barangays, the teeming poverty evident because of the unabated population growth. In these barangays, there is little money for education, and so girls as young as 14 – even as early as 13 – just get married and start having children, as many as 10 before they reach the age of 30.
The Philippines is like an airplane that is trying to take off but can never do so because there are just too many people boarding it. Just like the economy trying to take off, the weight of poverty continues to get heavier and heavier each day with more and more hungry people to feed. And the hungry are more concerned about where their next meal will come from. I remember what the late wealthy sugar baron Alfredo "Peding" Montelibano once said: "Principles are for people who can afford them." And in this case, people in this country who are hungry don’t look at morality as an issue. What is paramount to them is how they will feed themselves and their children.
Jojo Binay is an extremely popular mayor with the poor people of Makati, especially the maids in the exclusive villages because as residents of Makati, they are entitled to so many benefits they could only dream of. When Malacañang issued the suspension, they may just have created a hero out of Binay because it showed how popular he is especially with the poor. And just like Joseph Estrada, it may not be far fetched to see Jojo Binay perhaps one day running for president of this country – with a catchy slogan similar to Erap’s – "Binay para sa naghihìrap na Pinay!"