Binay to traders: Yes to mining, no to ‘PPP’

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER.net PHOTO

Should he win the presidency, Vice President Jejomar Binay promised to get things done, including pushing for mining in the country and doing away with the “PowerPoint presentation” style of leadership—an apparent dig at the Aquino administration.

Binay also said Thursday that he favored amending economic provisions in the Constitution to make the country more competitive and to help attract foreign investments.

In addition, he would push for a “genuine” anticorruption campaign that would not be used for harassment and vindictiveness.

The Vice President shared the main points of his platform at a meeting with business executives attending the Wallace Business Forum at Makati Shangri-La Hotel, which he said were “all ears” and had a good response to his presentation.

“I do not just plan or promise, I get things done,” he said in a speech.

Palace: Nothing irregular

Malacañang said there was nothing irregular about the Vice President’s presentation of his proposed economic platform to a business group.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told reporters that “such interactions between candidates and stakeholders are regular features of the democratic process.”

On Binay’s call for constitutional amendments to open up the economy to foreign investors, Coloma said “it is known that the President does not favor constitutional amendments.”

PPP administration

Speaking to reporters, Binay said he told the business executives that he intended to have a decisive administration.

“It will not be PPP or PowerPoint presentation (administration), which means we will get things done. Enough of long studies,” he said.

He also told the audience that he would push for mining to flourish in the country, adding that he believed fears about mining were brought about by inadequate information to the people about the subject.

“Many First World countries have big investments in natural resources, particularly mining,” Binay said.

He added that there were many new ways, technology and equipment for minimizing the hazards of mining, which he believes could ease apprehensions over mining.

Binay also told reporters he wanted to have Cabinet members who are not politicians.

“If it’s possible, my Cabinet members will be those who did not have to go through learning curves or are first-timers,” he said, adding he was inclined to get former Cabinet members from previous administrations because of their experience.

He said if a politician was in his Cabinet, there might be a chance he would want to run for office and he would be tempted to stray from doing the right thing.

Ledac

He also said that should he win the presidential election in May, he would hold quarterly meetings with the legislature and judiciary through the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) and the Judiciary-Executive-Legislative Advisory Council so the three branches of government would have a better understanding of issues.

Binay said the Disbursement Acceleration Program, a mechanism that the Aquino administration launched in 2011 to pump-prime the economy but ended up being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, could have not been implemented had Malacañang met regularly with the two other branches of government.

Binay, who is facing plunder complaints in the Sandiganbayan which he decried as politically motivated, also spoke about his anticorruption policy.

New king, new ways

He explained that he was not the type of manager who exemplified the saying: “Bagong hari, bagong ugali (New king, new ways)” because he wants to continue the good programs of the past governments.

“And one of these is the fight against corruption but this would be a genuine one which you will not use to prosecute people without evidence. This will not be used for harassment and vindictiveness,” he said.

The Vice President acknowledged that the government had lost billions of pesos due to corruption. But while the anticorruption drive of the Aquino administration was a good concept, it was not made meaningful as this was used to scare and harass (people).

Binay, who is being investigated by the Senate on alleged corrupt activities when he was still mayor of Makati City, said the corruption allegations against him were not raised at the business forum.

But he did spoke of the long-running Senate blue ribbon subcommittee probe of the corruption allegations against him.

Although he believed the Senate hearings were “waning,” the Vice President pointed out that he was also being charged in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Asked why the policies he outlined seemed to be intended to change the policies of the Aquino administration, he said: “We will change what needs to be changed but we will continue good programs. I am a manager who will continue good programs of past administrations.”

Purely business

Peter Wallace said that the business group did not raise the corruption allegations against Binay because it “stuck basically to business.”

“We are businessmen. We don’t want to get into politics,” Wallace told reporters.

On the corruption allegations against Binay, he said: “I always take this sort of thing with a grain of salt. Nothing has been proven and until there is, it’s unfair to make a judgment.”

Wallace said he believed business executives had agreed with some of the changes that Binay proposed to make under his presidency, including pushing for mining.

Disappointments

He said that one of his “greatest disappointments” with the current administration was that mining in the country “has come to a complete halt.”

Binay also said he would focus on infrastructure development and the creation of a Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Wallace said he hoped the next President would be able to accelerate the private-public partnership programs that were well put together by the Aquino administration but took a long time to get it started.

Wallace said his group had already met Binay and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and was hoping to meet next with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the standard-bearer of the administration’s Liberal Party.—Christine O. Avendaño with Jerry E. Esplanada

RELATED STORIES

VP Binay’s meeting with businessmen ‘very positive,’ says exec

Binay paints picture of ‘presidency’: No politicians in Cabinet