Binay announcement to run in 2016 exposes him early to attacks
Vice President Jejomar Binay
By announcing his presidential bid too early in the game, Vice President Jejomar Binay faces the risk of being attacked from all sides.
But in the same breath, Senator Gregorio Honasan theorized that this could be a calculated ploy on the part of the Vice President to test the waters, so to speak.
“You’ll have to admire the moral courage of the Vice President who has already expressed his intention to gun for the highest post in the land,” said Honasan in an interview by phone Wednesday.
Honasan was personally handpicked by the Vice President to join the senatorial slate by the United Nationalist Alliance for next year’s midterm elections.
The senator threw his support behind Binay’s decision to lay his cards on the table.
“This is not a gamble. There is nothing uncertain about the statements that have been made by the Vice President. He is not beating around the bush, unlike the others who don’t know what they want. The Vice President is clear and categorical about his intentions.”
“To me—not because I have publicly admitted to joining the UNA, or I’m not saying this to patronize the Vice President—at least the Filipino people are exposed to a predictable trajectory plan from the Vice President,” said Honasan.
Honasan agreed that this early announcement of Binay’s political plans would unnecessarily expose the Vice President to attacks.
“That’s true. In fact, he’s being attacked now by the higher guns of interest groups, but providentially he has so far weathered these attacks, and he enjoys the highest trust rating [among national leaders],” the senator said, referring to the latest surveys on approval ratings of high government officials.
Told that the Vice President, as a spare tire, was expected to gain high approval ratings because he was not the man behind the wheel unlike President Benigno Aquino III, Honasan said: “Public officials, elected or otherwise, are open targets. No exemptions. Even those not doing anything … are being attacked,” said the senator. Michael Lim Ubac
