Binay rejects calls for Aquino to resign, says he is praying for him

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay rejected on Thursday calls for President Benigno Aquino III to resign over the botched Mamasapano operation.

“Ayoko naman. You know, I am the vice president. Alam n’yo naman na magka-candidate ako (for presidency in 2016. Let us just wait,” Binay said in an interview in Cebu, a transcript of which was released Friday.

(I don’t want him to. You know, I am the vice president. You know very well that I am running for President in 2016. Let us just wait.)

“I am hoping and praying that the President will overcome this problem very soon,” he said.

No less than Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin confirmed during a Senate hearing Thursday reports of a coup plot against Aquino in the wake of the deaths of 44 elite policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January 25.

While rejecting calls for the President to resign, Binay pressed for the creation of an independent fact-finding commission to investigate the incident “to dispel all doubts that the investigations are merely a “cover-up.”

“Ang dami-dami kasing mag-iimbestiga eh. Walo yata. Sana, ito sinasabi ko noon, sana magkaroon ng independent commission. Para walang suspetsa,” he said.

(There are so many conducting their own investigation. Around eight. I just hope, and I said this before, that there would be an independent commission so we can dispel doubts.)

“Eh ngayon, habang nanonood ka, mayroon na ulit kanya-kanyang mga tingin na, ‘wow, hinaharang,’ ‘ayaw palabasin’,” he said.

(If you watch (the probes) now, you can say that there are efforts to cover up the truth.)

Amid public outcry over the Mamasapano incident, the Vice President raised strong objection an all-out war against those behind the killings of the elite policemen.

Any peace agreement, he said, should be “in consonance with existing laws, particularly the Constitution.”

“I am hoping and praying that we can have lasting peace. Ang giyera, kailangan iwasan. Pagka-giyera, may namamatay. Pero, it must be peace with justice. Basta’t tama lang. At saka ‘yong magiging kasunduan ay in consonance with our laws, particularly the Constitution,” Binay said.

(I am hoping and praying that we can have lasting peace. We need to avoid war. Wars result in deaths. But peace must come with justice. We need to achieve a right mix of the two. And the peace agreements must be in consonance with our laws, particularly the Constitution.)

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