Binay says UNA has no discussion on possible coalition with LP

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay said the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) has no discussion yet of any possible coalition with the Liberal party (LP) despite his earlier pronouncement that he is being considered by the LP to be its bet in 2016.

“Hindi ho sa akin galing ang isiping iyon, sa kanila galing iyon. Ako, pati yung mga kasamahan natin, wala pong nakikipag-usap na magkaroon ng coalition (The idea didn’t come from me but from them. My co-party members and I didn’t have any kind of talk about coalition),” Binay said in an interview Tuesday.

The Vice President admitted he was the one who started the talks of the possible coalition between the two warring groups when he mentioned that he was being considered by the LP.

And while LP officials were quick to deny his claim, Binay he said he was almost sure that the idea of the two groups coalescing in 2016 have alarmed a lot of LP members.

“Tinitiyak ko sa iyo, maraming ninenerbiyos na Liberal. Lalong lalo na yung may mga kasalanan (I’m sure, there a lot of members of the Liberal Party who are nervous now, especially those who are guilty),” he said, responding to a reporter’s question.

“Iyon po ang dahilan kung bakit ako pinahihirapan ng mga iyan. In fairness, mali-mali ang ginagawa nila. Hanggang ngayon, wala pang naipapakitang ebidensiya (That is the reason why they are making life difficult for me. To be fair, what they’re doing is wrong. Up till now, they can’t show any evidence),” he said without elaborating.

Binay also stood by his group’s stand against the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), despite observations that this would not qualify them to be part of the administration.

“Hindi po kami sumusuporta sa nangyari sa (We are not supporting what happened with) DAP. I think that the decision of the Supreme Court should be respected,” he said.

The Vice President echoed SC’s decision that the administration’s DAP was unconstitutional.

RELATED STORIES

Binay hit for questioning DAP allocation for stem cell research

Nancy Binay gets praises for grilling Abad over DAP

Binay backs call for full disclosure of DAP projects