Senator Escudero: Where’s fighting ‘Rambotito’ with Uzi?

By: TJ Burgonio - 10 years ago

Senator Francis Escudero and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Whatever happened to “Little Rambo”?

Sen. Francis Escudero cannot understand why Vice President Jejomar Binay continues to dodge the mounting charges of corruption against him by simply clamming up.

He said it was a complete departure from the image he remembered of the man in Army fatigues, lugging an Uzi submachine gun, ready to do battle during one of the coup attempts against President Corazon Aquino in the late 1980s.

“He was called Rambotito then. He even donned fatigues when we held rallies,” Escudero said in an interview with dwIZ Radio on Friday.

After she was swept to power in the February 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, Aquino declared all local government posts vacant and appointed officers in charge to administer the towns and cities, one of them being Binay in Makati City.

According to Escudero, Binay’s handlers may have advised him that he’d do better in the poll surveys if he kept quiet instead of speaking up.

“He has his own advisers now, and I’m no longer part of it. Maybe if you’re running for president, there are so many protocols. There are those restraining you, and there are those giving you bright ideas,” he said.

In the end, however, the electorate will demand answers to the issues being brought up against him, and the Vice President should deal with this squarely, the senator said.

In the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee inquiry into the allegedly overpriced P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II that has riveted the public, Binay has been accused of ordering the rigging of biddings for Makati infrastructure projects to favor a contractor and taking kickbacks from the contracts.

Battery of spokespersons

Recently, an erstwhile close ally, former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, accused Binay of having acquired a lavish, P1.2-billion, 350-hectare agricultural estate in Batangas province, regaling the committee hearing with aerial footage and photos of the property.

The Vice President declined the subcommittee’s first invitation. Instead of directly replying to the charges, he has let a battery of spokespersons do the talking for him.

The subcommittee decided to issue a second invitation for Binay to appear in the hearing and answer the fresh charges from Mercado. But, echoing the Vice President, his lawyers insisted that he’d rather face the public and reply to the formal complaint of plunder that has been filed against him in the Ombudsman over the Makati parking building.

According to Escudero, the Senate subcommittee hearings remained the best forum for Binay to reply to the accusations.

After all, the Ombudsman’s investigation could not possibly lead to the filing of formal charges against Binay as he’s immune from suit, he said.

“A press con where there is no Q & A does not suffice,” he added.

Escudero believed the drop in Binay’s poll ratings was because of this lack of categorical answers. “If he leaves these hanging, it will leave a lasting impression in the minds of the people that these charges are true.”