Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
SENATOR Antonio Trillanes IV is leading the smear campaign against Vice President Jejomar Binay because he is “desperate” to catch the eye of presumed presidential candidate, Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas, so the latter would choose him as running mate in 2016 elections, a daughter of the Vice President said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Makati Representative Mar-len Abigail Binay said Trillanes, who had expressed his bid to run as vice president, wants to smear her father’s reputation banking on a supposed plan for the Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party to ally in the next presidential elections.
READ: Binay camp slams Trillanes for ‘slash-and-burn tactic’
“Senator Trillanes has been desperately trying to sell himself to voters and more importantly, to Roxas. This is why the senator has been leading the charge against the Vice President, who remains the biggest obstruction to Roxas’ own aspiration to become president,” Rep. Binay said of her father who has expressed his intent to run for president.
Trillanes’ latest accusation against Binay is that the latter supposedly paid off Court of Appeals justices in the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Ombudsman’s suspension order against Vice President Binay’s son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.
Mayor Binay was preventively suspended due to graft charges over the questionable bidding in the allegedly overpriced Makati Parking Building.
Rep. Binay said Trillanes should resign, calling him an “embarrassment” to the Senate.
She added that Trillanes should face contempt charges for making accusations against the appellate justices without basis.
“Senator Trillanes clearly risks facing contempt charges. Since he has already confessed that he has no evidence to support his reckless allegation, other than purported ‘raw intelligence reports’, or hearsay, then the right thing for him to do is promptly say sorry to the court,” she said.
“Better yet, the senator should resign his seat. Frankly, he is a big embarrassment to the Senate,” she added.
She said Trillanes is willing to go against fairness and objectivity if only to destroy her father’s reputation.
“The problem with Senator Trillanes is that he wantonly resorts to wild guesswork first, then tries to gather evidence to support his claim. Sorry ka na lang if he fails to present any proof,” she added.
“Senator Trillanes has thrown all standards of objectivity and fairness out the window in his bid to destroy the Vice President and everybody else that gets in his (Trillanes’) way,” she said.
Trillanes and Rep. Binay had engaged in a word war since Trillanes hurled accusations of “justice for sale.”
Trillanes on Monday alleged that Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta, two of the three justices from the Sixth Division who signed the court TRO, received P25 million each from VP Binay for the favorable ruling.
Binay’s camp dared Trillanes to charge the appellate justices, who on the other hand, cried “harassment” over the senator’s “baseless accusations.”
Binay’s camp had also filed a libel suit against Trillanes for his “defamatory” accusations.
Rep. Binay made the statement on the same day Trillanes said his next exposé would be about the alleged misuse of Rep. Binay’s Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF).
Trillanes said the congresswoman’s PDAF went to bogus foundations similar to the alleged scheme of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
He said Rep. Binay’s PDAF went to organic fertilizers in Makati where there are no agricultural lands.
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