With his stocks recovering, VP Binay vows to ‘work harder’

Vice President Jejomar Binay.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Vice President Jejomar Binay’s latest lead in the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey would encourage him to work harder amid corruption allegations lodged against him, his camp said Friday.

His spokesperson Atty. Rico Quicho in a statement said Binay is “humbled” by the latest poll results which showed Binay getting the nod of 31 percent of voters surveyed, five percentage points higher from his December ratings.

READ: Binay maintains lead; Poe, Roxas, Duterte in statistical tie—survey

According to the survey on 1,200 respondents conducted Jan. 8-10, 2016, Binay surpassed previous frontrunner Senator Grace Poe who got 24 percent, administration bet Mar Roxas with 21 percent, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 20 percent, and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago with three percent. Roxas, Duterte and Poe are in a statistical tie.

In the previous survey conducted Dec. 12-14, 2015, Binay and Poe were in a statistical tie at 26 percent. Roxas got 22 percent, Duterte got 20 percent, and Santiago got four percent.

READ: Poe, Binay tied for lead in SWS poll 

“The Vice President is humbled by the people’s trust in his capability to lead our country. It will encourage him to work harder in order to demonstrate his actions to uplift our people’s lives, fight poverty and provide employment,” Quicho said.

Quicho added that Binay is humbled by the trust the people surveyed gave him and for believing in him that he is the most competent leader in the next presidential elections.

“He will continue to emphasize that our country needs an experienced and competent leader to work for inclusive growth that would ultimately benefit the poor who comprise majority of our country,” Quicho said.

Binay first regained the lead in the latest Pulse Asia survey conducted December 4-11, 2015, getting 33 percent of the respondents. He was followed by Duterte with 23 percent, Poe with 21 percent, Roxas with 17 percent, and Santiago with four percent.

Poe’s lead has suffered after the Commission on Elections disqualified her for allegedly failing to meet the 10-year residency period and for supposedly failing to meet a natural-born status. Poe won a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

Her allies appealed to voters that Poe remains a candidate in the presidential derby.

READ:  Amid rating dip, Poe reminds voters: ‘I am still a candidate’

Binay also recovered from his record-low approval and trust ratings in September last year amid a series of Senate investigation into the alleged corruption and pay-offs on various infrastructure projects when he was Makati mayor.

The Vice President’s approval score increased to 52 percent from 43 percent in September. His trust rating rose to 49 percent from 39 percent. Binay posted the highest lead among those in Class E, his approval ratings leaping to 66 percent from 46 percent, and trust ratings to 62 percent from 44 percent.

READ: Binay ratings up–Pulse Asia

Binay has regained his lead despite facing a graft indictment before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly rigging the procurement for the design and construction of the P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II, deemed the country’s priciest car park building, when he was Makati mayor.

The Ombudsman has approved the filing of four counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019, six counts of Falsification of Public Documents and one count of Malversation for his alleged involvement in phases 1 and 2 of the carpark project.

Because Binay has immunity as an impeachable officer, the Ombudsman is set to file the charges after his term ends.

Binay also faces four other plunder and graft complaints before the Ombudsman over the alleged anomalies involving the Makati Science High School Building, University of Makati, a Fort Bonifacio property, and over an allegedly anomalous land deal between Alphaland and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, where Binay is long-running President.

READ: Ombudsman finds probable cause to charge VP Binay with graft 

Binay has said the corruption allegations against him were intended to derail his presidential bid. IDL

READ: Binay appeals graft indictment, says it’s meant to ruin 2016 run