Binay: Gwen in UNA slate

IT is now loud and clear; Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is part of the senatorial slate of the United Nationalist Alliance.

Vice President Jejomar Binay addressed Cebu’s Governor Garcia as the “first Cebuana lady senator” in a speech during the ceremony that formalized the home mortgage scheme for the “Provincial Ordinance 93-1” home at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) yesterday morning.

“Governor, yung kagalingan mo, kahusayan mo, dadalhin natin sa national,” he said during his speech.

During the press conference after the contract signing, Binay who had just organized the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in preparation for his presidential run in 2016, reaffirmed his pronouncements, saying, “I think for Governor Garcia in the UNA senatorial slate is 99.9 percent sure. The 0.1 percent is the declaration of the council.”

“Let’s just talk of the end. And the end is, Gov. Garcia will be a candidate for senator under the UNA,” he added.

Garcia who was seated beside Binay during the press conference said that she is happy about the statement by Binay and she promised 101 percent support.

Earlier, PDP-Laban party’s secretary general Jose “Joey” de Venecia announced that they have five confirmed candidates for the senatorial slate of UNA.

They were Jack Enrile, JV Ejercito, Gringo Honasan, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and himself.

De Venecia in a separate interview said that UNA will soon be announcing additional senatoriables

“Eventually, she (Garcia) will be part of UNA senatorial slate,” De Venecia said.

The MOA signing at CICC was also seen as a political gathering of UNA leaders, with former senators Miguel Zubiri and Ernesto Maceda, and Makati Mayor Junjun Binay present./Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus