Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines—Everything is possible, nothing is impossible when it comes to Vice President Jejomar Binay’s overweening ambition to become president of the country.
In an interview with host Karen Davila in ANC’s “Headstart” on Wednesday night, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay suggested that even a coalition between his father’s United Nationalist Alliance and the ruling Liberal Party was “not impossible.”
“Who knows? Anything’s possible in politics. It might be good [for] the country to have an alliance,” the mayor said.
But his father is “100 percent” sure about running for president, he said.
Turning to his father’s possible running mates, Junjun Binay said no one had been chosen yet.
“Many are possible. The question is, do they want it?” he said.
“Maybe someone who is an expert in the business sector. Maybe someone who is an expert in the economy. We need someone who is familiar with the economy. So there are those factors he is looking at,” the mayor said.
When Davila said that the “possibilities are very limited,” pointing out that his father and one of those rumored to be in the running, Sen. Grace Poe, are “not really talking,” the mayor said, “that’s not really the situation.”
He mentioned Sen. Francis Escudero as one of those with whom his father was talking.
When asked if detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was a possible running mate, he evaded answering by saying that his father had not really chosen yet.
The mayor said there were many suggestions and mentioned Darlene Berberabe, the president of the Pag-Ibig Fund.
“She’s going through a lot right now. And she has a daughter… Of course she is going through many things and yet she knows what she’s talking about,” he said, noting that Berberabe, the ex-wife of the ailing basketball player Samboy Lim, was a lawyer and a graduate of the University of the Philippines.
“I think she really wants to be committed to the nation,” Junjun Binay said.
“There are many people who can be vice president. What is important is there should be credibility, he or she helps or is really trustworthy,” he said.
He also dispelled rumors that his father was sick or was “undergoing dialysis.”
“We know he travels a lot… Rumors that he is sick are false,” he said.