SolGen, Binay lawyer to face off at SC over Junjun Binay suspension

The acting-solicitor general himself, Florin Hilbay, will present the government's case during next Tuesday's oral arguments over the preventive suspension of Makati Mayor Junjun Binay at the Supreme Court's summer session in Baguio City.

Hilbay will be arguing for Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who filed the petition defending its suspension of Binay.

Binay will be represented by Atty. Claro Certeza, a senior partner in the Subido Pagente Certeza Mendoza & Binay law office. Certeza had already argued for Binay over the same suspension issue before the Court of Appeals. During the two-day hearing at the CA, Certeza insisted on the validity of the CA's March 16 temporary restraining order against his client's suspension.,

Certeza also pointed out that the Ombudsman, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Philippine National Police, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, and Makati Vice Mayor Romulo Pena had  defied the TRO.

The government did not field acting Solicitor General Hilbay during the CA hearings. Instead, Assistant Solicitor General Hermes Ocampo and Solicitor Raymund Rigodon defended the DILG, the PNP, and the Department of Justice. The Ombudsman was separately represented by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera.

The OSG is the legal counsel and legal defender of the government during cases. It is an attached agency of the DOJ.

Hilbay, who topped the 1999 Bar exams, had been senior state solicitor since March 2013, until his appointment in August last year as acting solicitor general.

Four months later, in December 2014, he faced the SC magistrates during oral arguments to defend the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the US.

Apart from EDCA, Hilbay - then still a senior solicitor - had previously defended the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Law, also before the Supreme Court in 2013.

Key provisions of the law, such as the one allowing government funding for contraceptives, had been upheld by the high court.

According to his appointment papers, Hilbay was also the "principal handling lawyer" for the cases involving the administration's Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which has been declared partially unconstitutional. The SC would later uphold most of its original decision, with several modifications. — Mark Merueñas/DVM, GMA News