Suddenly, VP Binay wants ‘Punisher’ as running mate

Impressed with ‘iron fist’

But the senator, who chairs the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said that if such extrajudicial killings happen in Davao City in the future, “that is a crime.”

Pimentel said that if Duterte decides to be a candidate for chief executive, he has a lot of supporters within and outside the PDP-Laban.

“Those outside the party are impressed with the iron fist he displayed in Davao City,” he said.

Hailing from Mindanao gives Duterte an edge with Mindanao voters as well as with the Cebuano-speaking population, he said. This also lends credibility to his platform of advocating federalism, he added.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano of the Nacionalista Party, who has expressed an openness to run for President, said he would decide on his plans in a few months.

Cayetano told reporters Thursday that he wants to concentrate first on the draft BBL, of which he has been critical.

He said he had been told that his combative stance on the bill might affect his chances, but he added that he has no plans of changing his position.

“I will not change my stand for political purposes. I want to finish the BBL first, then I can focus on 2016,” he said.

Senatorial lineup

Accompanied by Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian in his tour of the Visayas and Mindanao, Binay disclosed that he had invited the congressman to join his senatorial lineup.

“He was a mayor before becoming a congressman,” Binay said, referring to Gatchalian.

On Poe’s rejection of his offer to be his running mate, Binay said he respects her decision.

Poe has said she does not see herself as the vice president’s running mate.

Binay is facing mounting calls to explain the serious allegations of corruption against him, particularly after an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report came out about the billions of pesos in bank accounts he and his suspected dummies allegedly own.

In Davao City, Binay again dismissed the AMLC report as an attack by his political rivals because of his determination to run for president in 2016.

“I have declared my presidential run too early that’s why I am at the receiving end of these lies and demolition jobs,” he said.