Vice President Jejomar Binay. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Already, Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family are bracing for the “low-blows” against him in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections.
Senator Nancy Binay said her family has been expecting the attacks against her father, who has announced months ago his plans to run for president in 2016, to intensify between now and the May 2016 presidential elections.
“I once told them, ‘we should have a strong chest for this’. We don’t know how low they can go. The mere fact that they’re using my mom to disable my dad is very below-the-belt,’’ the senator said in a recent interview.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor moved to include the senator’s mother, Elenita Binay, as an accused in a case before the Sandiganbayan involving the alleged overpricing of hospital beds at the Ospital ng Makati during her watch as city mayor.
The former mayor, along with several city officials, was originally included in the complaint that was dismissed by the Ombudsman in 2011 for lack of evidence.
The Vice President has scoffed at the revival of the complaint against his wife as part of a black propaganda campaign in connection with the 2016 elections. Either that, he said, or it was a violation of her rights.
“The complaint was filed 10 years ago. It was dismissed by the Ombudsman more than two years ago. But the Special Prosecutor decided to reinstate my wife [in the case] without even informing her. These are glaring acts of abuse of authority and violation of her rights,’’ he said.
The Vice President said he also got wind of information that a string of complaints would be filed against him and his family with the Ombudsman.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor filed an omnibus motion asking the Sandiganbayan to admit an amended information that would include the Vice President’s wife as an additional accused in the 10-year-old case.
The former mayor is also facing graft charges before the Sandiganbayan over the alleged rigged public bidding in August 2009 for a P72-million supply contract.
Senator Binay, the eldest in the family, said personalities eyeing the presidency in 2016 could be behind the black propaganda against her father.
“I guess those who have the potential to run,’’ she said, without identifying them. “Those who are against my father.’’
When news of the Special Prosecutor’s Office move broke, the senator pleaded with critics to spare her mother from the “political circus.’’
“We are not aware that the whole time our family is being monitored and watched by Big Brother. It’s not fair to use my mom in the demolition job against the Vice President—please spare her,’’ she said.
The senator said her family had been bombarded with attacks from the time she ran for senator in 2013.
“It has not stopped,’’ she said.
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