Binay camp asks: ‘Is Trillanes backing out of the debate?’

Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay hit Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday for imposing a deadline for their debate, saying the senator was “laying the predicate for backing out of the debate.”

“Senator Trillanes thinks that like in the Senate, he can bully Vice President Jejomar Binay and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP),” Joey Salagado, head of the Office of the Vice President’s media affairs, said in a statement.

“A debate has ground rules. A debate is a forum to inform, not to harass or intimidate. It is a forum for a sober presentation of arguments, not a bully pulpit. It is not a one-sided political circus like the on-going Senate witch-hunt being conducted by Senator Trillanes.”

“But we do suspect that by imposing a deadline on the Vice President and the KBP, Senator Trillanes is laying the predicate for backing out of the debate. He knows fully well that given a forum for sober, calm, and informed discourse, he will never win the debate,” Salgado added.

It was the Vice President who challenged Trillanes to a one-on-one debate, which the latter readily accepted.  Until now, however, the two camps have yet to agree on the date and venue of their face off.

The senator then said over a radio interview on Monday that he would only give Binay until November 22 to set the date of their debate.

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