MANDAUE, Cebu—Vice President Jejomar Binay stands to benefit if the Supreme Court upholds the Commission on Elections’ disqualification of Sen. Grace Poe from the presidential contest, according to Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas.
Stopping short of saying that Binay is behind the efforts to take Poe out of the race, Roxas admitted that his political nemesis would get the “biggest chunk” of the Poe votes if the high court stops her from running in the elections in May.
“It (Poe’s disqualification) is in his interest,” Roxas told reporters here on Thursday night.
“I might get a chunk or portion of the votes for Poe, but the biggest chunk will go to him (Binay),” he said with a straight face.
“That’s the (result) of our study and examination of the (survey numbers),” he said.
‘Bullying and mudslinging’
Binay’s camp yesterday denied Roxas’ claim that the Vice President stood to gain from Poe’s elimination, saying that Roxas had a “proven record of bullying and musdslinging.”
“All his political opponents have been victims of his bullying and his use of government agencies and resources against his opponents,” said Binay’s campaign spokesperson Rico Quicho.
Vote-rich
Roxas has been “abusing power and using government institutions to attack the other candidates to boost his sagging candidacy,” he said.
Roxas flew here on Thursday for a two-day campaign in the major towns of Cebu province, which has recorded the largest number of votes cast among the 81 provinces in previous national elections.
In 2010, Cebu delivered more than 800,000 votes for Roxas, enough to give him his largest winning margin over Binay in the vice presidential race.
However, Roxas eventually lost to Binay by some 700,000 votes, which he had questioned in an electoral protest that is still pending in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
On Thursday, President Aquino joined Roxas, the latter’s vice presidential running mate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and some of the senatorial candidates of the LP-led Daang Matuwid coalition in a big political rally at Mandaue Sports Complex.
Roxas and Robredo also attended separate multisectoral dialogues in Lapu-Lapu, Dumanjug, Toledo and Daanbantayan.
As in previous speeches, Mr. Aquino vouched for his anointed’s character and commitment to build on the economic gains of his six-year administration.
Underhanded
Poe’s camp has been accusing both Roxas and Binay of employing underhanded tactics to stop her from being elected President, an allegation which the two candidates have flatly denied.
Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco, president of Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance, was the first to question Poe’s qualifications when he came out in the media with the claim that Poe was not qualified to run for President as she lacked the 10-year residency requirement.
As soon as Poe filed her candidacy certificate for President, at least four petitions were filed in the Comelec to disqualify her from running on the grounds that, being a foundling, she was not a natural-born Filipino and that she failed to meet the 10-year residency requirement for presidential candidates.
The Comelec favorably acted on the petitions and disqualified Poe, saying that she lied in the certificate of candidacy that she had filed in the poll body.
Poe went to the Supreme Court to question the Comelec disqualification. The high court is expected to hand down a decision in the next few days.
Vicious attacks
Quicho said Binay has been on the receiving end of “vicious attacks” from Roxas and his allies since he defeated Roxas for the vice presidency in 2010.
“[Up to] now, he cannot accept that he lost to one who is nognog (black) and short, one who loves and fights for the poor,” he said.
Quicho said Binay is expecting even stronger attacks against him as the latest survey results have placed him in a statistical tie in the lead with Poe.
“We expect that with every rise in the survey results, the demolition by perception being waged by lethargic candidates will intensify,” he said. With a report from Tarra Quismundo
