UNA supports Binay decision to back out of debate

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines— The United Nationalist Alliance supported (UNA) the decision of Vice President Jejomar Binay to back out of his public debate with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Lawyer JV Bautista, interim secretary general of UNA, said the public debate, which was scheduled for November 27, would not do any good for the Vice President.

“Wala akong nakikita talagang magandang hahantungan ‘yang debate na ‘yan. Wala naman talagang maidudulot na kalinawan o solusyon itong sinasabing debate na ito sapakat hindi proper venue iyan kahit na kanino,” Bautista said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM on Tuesday.

(I do not see any gain coming from that debate. That debate won’t bring forth any clarity or solution because it is not the proper venue for the parties involved.)

He said the withdrawal of Binay from the debate would not destroy his credibility to the public.

“Sila’y nagtitiwala sa ating Pangalawang Pangulo kasi nagtratrabaho siya para sa kanila at gumagawa ng magaganda para sa kanila,” he said.

(They still trust the Vice President because he is working and doing good by them.)

He said that Binay has been known to have improved Makati when he was still the city mayor, while Trillanes’s only claim to fame is his failed coup attempts.

Binay, who turned 72 Tuesday, said he had decided to back out of the debate because he did not want to take advantage of Trillanes who is not a lawyer unlike him.

Trillanes is a member of the Senate’s Blue Ribbon subcommittee which has been probing the corruption allegations against Binay.

The Vice President has repeatedly declined the body’s invitation, and instead challenged Trillanes to a public debate so he could air his side.

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