Is Binay destined for the presidency?

IHAVE a confession. I didn’t bother to watch the House of Representatives’ version of the probe into the Mamasapano, Maguindanao clash. After all the previous investigations, I was sure that before the House members could start grilling the first resource person every answer would already be a repetition. It would be like flogging a dead horse.

I would give it to the country’s two survey firms for the timing of the release of the results of their recent surveys. It was impeccable in the sense that it summed up the tug-of-war for public opinion by Malacañang and critics of the Aquino administration over the Mamasapano debacle. President Noynoy Aquino’s approval rating dipped.

I am sure honest critics of the President were satisfied with that, believing that the warning had finally been sent to the hardheaded chief executive (although I am also sure those with political agenda weren’t satisfied, considering that they wanted nothing less than the rock bottom ratings for him). I mean, what more could they ask for?

The survey results, particularly those of Pulse Asia, also had something that must have satisfied Malacañang and its supporters. Majority of those polled said they wanted the President to finish his term despite the mishandling of the Mamasapano operation. That took the steam from the Aquino resign/ouster movement, silencing its leaders.

Again, what more could they ask for?

As I said in a previous column, it’s time to move on from Mamasapano. For the Aquino administration, the next few moths are crucial. The only way it can recover from the decline in its approval ratings is when it handles well the next issues and controversies that surface. On this, it has the lessons of Mamasapano to hold on to.

Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. has fully evaded the preventive suspension order issued against him by the Office of the Ombudsman following the Court of Appeals decision favorable to him. The battle now shifts to the Su- preme Court where the ombudsman has elevated the issue on whether the CA could stop the implementation of the preventive suspension order.

Involved there are legal questions and my faith in the institutions involved tells me there would be no shenanigans that would surface in their effort to resolve the impasse. But the Junjun Binay case should inspire some more the supporters of his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay. It looks at first glance like things are on the up and up for the Binays.

Months after the allegations of corruption surfaced against the VP, his supporters, specifically those who want to see him become the country’s next president in 2016, have reacquired their swagger. Binay himself is going around town talking and acting like he is president already. But is it really over but the counting?

Becoming president, they say, is a destiny. The country’s politics is littered with personalities who sought the presidency with fanatical zeal but were left gasping for breath by the wayside. Binay could be one of them.

The swagger of the Binay camp comes from the fact that he still tops the surveys on presidentiables despite the allegations of corruption heaped on him. What they lost sight of is the fact that his current rating is comparatively low and that only a few percentage points separate him from the next one below him. To think that those below him in the ratings have not been clear yet about their intention to run for president.

I would say that things would start to get shaky for Binay after the filing of the certificates of candidacy in the latter part of this year. When push comes to shove, I can assure you that our voters would never countenance having a corrupt president again.