Most Pinoys want Binay to face Senate probe

But VP’s spokesman says former Makati City mayor has no plans of facing the three senators because they “already prejudged” him

NEARLY eight out of 10 Filipinos believe Vice President Jejomar Binay should answer under oath the corruption allegations raised against him in the Senate.

Results of the Sept. 26-29 survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released yesterday showed 79 percent of 1,200 respondents want Binay to attend the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee hearing on the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building 2.

Ten percent opposed the idea, while 11 percent of the respondents were undecided.

Despite the clear message, Binay has no plans of facing the Senate probe.

In a statement, Binay’s political affairs spokesman Jonvic Remulla said the Senate has already “prejudged” Binay because of the actuations of Sens. Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, members of the three-man subcommittee.

Trillanes’s objective

Remulla said Trillanes went on record that his objective is to bring down the survey ratings of the Vice President, which already happened, and even send Binay to jail for allegedly accumulating ill-gotten wealth during his two-decade rule as Makati City mayor.

Cayetano, on the other hand, joined Trillanes in accepting the “unfounded claims” of former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado as “gospel truth” and moved for state protection for him and two other witnesses against the Vice President.

It was Mercado who directly accused Binay of receiving at least 13-percent kickback from various projects of the Makati City Government.

He also said that Binay owns a 350-hectare agricultural estate in Rosario, Batangas, whose development was financed by the former mayor’s alleged shady deals.

Political persecution

Remulla maintained that the hearings are not in aid of legislation “but in furtherance of political persecution,” considering that Binay is so far the frontrunner among potential candidates in the 2016 presidential elections.

“It would be futile for the vice president to dignify such farcical proceedings and subject himself and his family to ridicule,” the Cavite governor said, adding Binay will address the allegations at a proper venue “where there is no other agenda except arriving at the truth.”

“He is determined to bring the issues directly to the people, which he has been doing for the past weeks in visits to Mindanao, Zambales and Bataan,” Remulla said.

The National Bureau of Investigation is already looking into the allegations against Binay, his family and associates.

Its findings will be forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman, where Binay is facing a plunder complaint for the alleged overpriced parking building.