Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday tagged the Liberal Party (LP) behind what she described as another attempt to derail the presidential bid of her father, Vice President Jejomar Binay.
“I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Siguro talaga yung isang partido ay nangingig na kasi yung pambato nila ay talagang kumbaga e mababa pagdating sa survey,” she told reporters when asked about the freeze order that the Court of Appeals reportedly issued on the Vice President’s bank accounts.
(I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe the other party is already nervous because their bet is really low in the survey)
“Ang hirap kasi kahit anong bato na yung ginawa sa pamilya ko yung kandidato nila hindi tumataas so wala, desperate,” she added.
(The problem is whatever accusations they throw at our family, their candidate is still not doing well in surveys so that’s why they are desperate.)
Asked if she was referring to the Liberal Party, she said: “Kinda. Parang, di ba? Kasi, e sila naman yung medyo parang yung kandidato nila e, in fact di ba, the mere fact that the President has to look for an alternative candidate, it means, medyo may pagka nahihirapan silang kumuha ng kandidato na itatapat sa ating Vice President,” she said.
(Kinda. Because the mere fact that the President has to look for an alternative candidate, it means that they’re having a hard time to find a candidate against our Vice President)
Senator Binay was apparently referring to President Benigno Aquino III and Senator Grace Poe’ meeting about the 2016 elections, which raised speculations that Poe is now being considered to be the LP’s bet in 2016.
READ: Aquino admits meeting with Poe to discuss 2016 plans
The party has been pushing for Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to be its standard-bearer despite his low ranking in various presidential surveys.
Asked if she thinks the President himself might have been involved in the attacks against her father, Senator Binay said: “A that, mahirap to speculate. Basta kami, alam namin, mas sigurado kami dun sa nag-aambisyon for 2016.”
(It’s hard to speculate. What we know is that we’re more than sure of the one who’s aspiring in 2016)
But LP’s vice chairman, Senate President Franklin Drilon, quickly denied LP’s hand on the court’s freeze order.
READ: Binay camp: LP has AMLC report
“We have nothing to do with that. The members of the AMLC are professionals, the Bangko Sentral governor is, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) officials are professionals. They are not partisan,” he said in a separate interview.
AMLC is Anti-Money Laundering Council, which asked the Court of Appeals to freeze Binay’s bank accounts in connection with the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall parking building.
But Senator Binay believes that the AMLC and other agencies are being used for political persecution.
While she said her family can explain the issues being raised against them, she lamented how some government agencies were being used against the administration’s political opponents.
“Wala pa yata akong naririnig na kakampi nila na under investigation or na-freeze yung account so this is all about 2016 kasi yung ambition ng isang partido is more important than following the rules,” the senator added.
(I have not heard any of their political allies who are under investigation or whose accounts have been frozen so this is all about 2016 because the ambition of one party is more than important following the rules.) DPL