Binay seeks lifting of term limitations: One to ‘sawa’

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER.net PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY—Vice President Jejomar Binay on Thursday said he wants limits on the terms of the country’s elected officials lifted, he said here where he is on a three-day sortie.

“Itong term na ito ’di talaga ako naniniwala d’yan. Kailangan one to sawa ’yan, hangga’t gusto ng tao. Kaya kung meron amendments sa Constitution, ipapaalis ko yung term limitation. Hangga’t maaari, iboto nang iboto,” Binay told local officials.

The Constitution provides that the President is not eligible for reelection after a six-year term.

It also provides that no Vice President shall serve for more than two successive terms.

Unfazed by Roxas-Poe tandem

Binay is anticipating to face the tandem of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Sen. Grace Poe in the 2016 polls—and is confident of victory, regardless of who he faces for President.

Binay said he was unfazed by such a tandem because Filipinos would vote for someone with capability, experience and love of country.

Earlier, in a speech at Barangay (village) Banago here, the Vice President kept the crowd of 100 people in stitches with promises ranging from false teeth and male diapers to Viagra.

“They (the senior citizens) are given free movies every day, free cakes on their birthdays, burial expenses when they die,” Binay said.

“The problem of senior citizens who are male is they pee in their pants. Maybe in the future male senior citizens will be given diapers.”

He added: “The women have no problem with diapers because when they are old they have no panties … So we will not give diapers, we will just give Viagra…”

At a press conference later, Binay said he believed President Aquino had already made a decision on whom to endorse for President in the 2016 election.

He said the Liberal Party had been releasing information in trickles to the media about a possible Roxas-Poe tandem.

“I believe there are results already,” Binay said. “They are just dribbling public opinion so that their decision can become acceptable.”

Binay was confident of victory, saying the issue in the election should be qualification.

He said a teacher could not be a supervisor or a principal without experience, nor could an apprentice be a president of a big corporation.

In his case, he said, he proved his ability to run the executive department when he was mayor of Makati City.

Binay didn’t specify who between Roxas and Poe would face him in the election.

Most local officials in the province have endorsed Roxas—whose mother has roots in Negros Occidental—for President.

They credited Roxas for the creation of the Negros Island Region composed of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, which had been pushed by officials of both provinces.

Binay, however, said he didn’t believe Negros Occidental was solid behind Roxas due to the “warm” response he had received while going around Bacolod.

He added he went to Negros Occidental for consultations on who to field as his candidate for governor.

With Alma Moreno

Binay visited the bagsakan fish port at Sitio (settlement) Sibucao in Banago about noon. He was with former actress Alma Moreno, chair of the Councilors League of the Philippines, human rights lawyer Harry Roque and former Rep. Danilo Suarez.

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