Binay camp chides LP over Garci dig
Are you high? This was the response — with accompanying hashtag – of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s camp to claims by the Liberal Party (LP) that it had hired former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano as consultant ahead of the May 9 polls.
“#Areyouhigh?” Binay’s Campaign Communications Director Joey Salgado said in a terse statement Thursday.
Earlier, LP Spokesman and Akbayan Party, list Rep. Barry Gutierrez chided United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) presidential bet Binay for “hiring an expert in cheating”–an obvious reference to Garcillano.
“Wow. First time na ang administrasyon umiiyak na dadayain sila ng oposisyon. Sino ba may control at gumagamit ng government resources, etc.? ( Wow. It’s the first time that the administration is crying they might get cheated by the opposition. Who has control and use over government resources, etc.?)” Salgado shot back.
The rumor about Garcillano began just before the first presidential debate last month when the poll official was spotted at the Seda Centrio Hotel in Cagayan de Oro where the opposition leader was billeted and so was presidential rival Senator Grace Poe.
Garcillano told media he was there as a “consultant” but did not elaborate. Both Binay and Poe denied hiring him.
Lies During his campaign sortie in Bulacan, Binay denied seeing or meeting Garcillano tagged in the “Hello, Garci” wiretapping scandal during the Arroyo administration.
“Hinding- hindi ko po nakita, hinding- hindi ko po nakausap. Baka po sila, pinatatawag po nila sa Malacañang (I did not see him. I did not talk to him, might be them (administration), he is being called in Malacanang),” Binay told reporters.
He said reports linking him to Garcillano are all lies.
“Kasi wala na, talo na yang mga yan kaya kung anu- ano nang sinasabi,” said Binay, slamming the Aquino administration.
There are reports circulating that Garcillano may be helping a presidential candidate and another vice- presidential bet in the May elections.
Garcillano became a household name following the “Hello Garci” scandal that exposed alleged attempts to rig results of the 2004 national polls to favor then presidential candidate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who eventually won the elections.
Binay has been accusing the administration of resorting to dirty politics, particularly in “buying votes” through the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps.
According to the Vice President, the administration purposely underspent the past few years and much to the Filipinos’ detriment only to “break the bank” this 2016, the year of the elections. ( Anna Liza VillasAlavaren)