Binay slams ‘hypocrite’ senators as VP snubs Senate hearings anew

“TO THE senators, no amount of explanation by the Vice President will suffice.”

This was the statement of the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay following the latter’s continued nonappearance in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearings on corruption allegations against him.

Calling the Senate hearings as a “badly written telenovela” that has “outlived its entertainment value,” vice presidential spokesman for political affairs Rico Quicho claimed that senators were only wasting time and resources in their investigation.

“Political opportunists and hypocrites in the Senate will not stop their persecution,” Quicho said. “The senators have resorted to the cheap gimmick of putting an empty chair in the Session Hall when the only thing empty in this sorry excuse for a Senate inquiry is credible proof.”

The Office of the Vice President said Binay was in Pangasinan to distribute wheelchairs to senior citizens and talk to local leaders and residents.

Despite Binay’s continued absence, Quicho maintained that the Vice President has already explained his side on the accusations being thrown at him by “perjured resource persons offering nothing more than hearsay and tainted opinions.”

“They have ignored his affidavit and the submission of controverting evidence including the positive testimonies of persons that the projects of the Vice President are above board,” he said. “Nothing will be sufficient to the senators conducting the skewed and highly partisan Senate investigation.”

Calling him as “resident Senate bully,” Quicho also took a swipe at Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who initiated the Senate probe against Binay.

“He disgraces the memory of past senators who made history in the Senate with their intellect, conduct and statesmanship,” he said.

As to the claim of lawyer Renato Bondal during the Senate hearing that Sen. Nancy Binay was carrying a gun when she got off her car in Dasmariñas village, the spokesman said the younger Binay was holding a Samsung Note mobile phone.

“[T]he poor video quality only attests to the depths of his imagination. For the record, the senator was carrying a cellphone,” Quicho said. “But this is Bondal the ‘manghuhula’ after all.”

Echoing the Vice President’s repeated remarks of a “bumbling and insensitive” (palpak at mandhid) government, Quicho dismissed the Senate probe as politically motivated, supposedly to sabotage Binay’s presidential bid in 2016.

“Bagyo, epidemya, trahedya sa dagat – lahat ay nangyari sa loob ng isang linggo – ngunit lahat ay hindi binigyang-halaga sa ngalan ng pulitika at ambisyon,” he added.