THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Wednesday welcomed the results of the latest survey conducted by pollster Pedro “Junnie” Laylo Jr. but noted that his consistent topping of various surveys has emboldened Binay’s detractors to intensify their “campaign of lies” to thwart his presidential bid.
Spokesman Joey Salgado said anti-Binay senators intend to make it appear that the vice president gave contracts to favored businessmen at the Pag-IBIG Fund during the resumption today in the Senate of their hearings.
“The findings are consistent with other surveys we have seen. Still, we expect the senators conducting the hearings to further intensify their campaign of lies against the vice president,” said Salgado.
The survey conducted between Nov. 26 and Dec. 5 last year by Laylo Research Strategies showed that Binay was the runaway winner in five-way, four-way and two-way scenarios in the 2016 presidential race.
Salgado said the senators have proven to be “impervious to the sentiments of the people, who have become tired of lies and hate-mongering in the Senate hall.”
“They want to revive interest in a tele-novela that the people have long ago lost interest in,” he said.
Binay lawyer Rico Paolo Quicho said the plan to cite Binay’s son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay in contempt for not attending the hearings was meant to drum up interest in the Senate hearing.
Quicho named Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., chairman of the Senate blue ribbon sub-committee, was behind the plan to cite the mayor for contempt, together with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
“You would see the pattern here. They attack all the achievements of Vice President Binay, starting with the alleged Makati building overpricing. The public saw it was all lies being spread by former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado,” Quicho said.
Mercado’s latest allegation is that Binay, who also serves as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, abused his power to favor developer Roberto Ongpin, whose Alphaland outfit built the City Club building on BSP-owned property.
“It is on record that the president of the Alphaland asserted that the project was aboveboard,” Quicho said.
Mercado was BSP senior vice president when the organization entered into an agreement with Alphaland to develop the property in Makati.
“They had an agreement with Alphaland to make the BSP earn from the property. Mercado is making up a story that the project was anomalous, even after the Alphaland president himself said it is not,” Quicho said.
Quicho also lamented the attempts of Trillanes to discredit the integrity of Pag-IBIG Fund by alleging that Binay used his position as chairman of its Board of Trustees to favor certain contractors.
Quicho reiterated the statement of Pag-IBIG President and Chief Executive Officer and lawyer Darlene Berberabe that the Fund merely processes housing loans and does not award housing contracts.
Quicho also noted that it was under the leadership of Binay and Berberabe that developer Delfin Lee and several other persons involved in the Globe Asiatique scam were slapped with a syndicated estafa case.
“Through the leadership of Vice President Binay and Attorney Berberabe, reforms were instituted in Pag-IBIG. Erring developers and even Pag-IBIG officials have been charged,” Quicho said.
Quicho noted that senators trying to taint the Vice President’s reputation have already declared their intention to run for a higher position next year.
“The attacks continue because of the self-interest of some senators who have already declared their intentions to run for higher office,” he said.