Binay camp shrugs off ratings decline

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

MANILA, Philippines–Vice President Jejomar Binay is not bothered by his ratings decline in the presidential bid survey of Pulse Asia, one of his spokespersons said Wednesday.

“The 5% [point] decline is marginal, according to Pulse Asia. This is welcome news because the survey was taken at a time when the Vice President’s detractors were aggressively throwing mud against him in the senate and in media,” Joey Salgado, media head of the Office of the Vice President, said in a statement.

Salgado pointed out that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of Binay’s staunchest critics, “bragged” that the Vice President’s rating would go down by 10 points or more.
“That did not happen. For us, it means that the people have seen through the motives of the senators who style themselves as presidentiables,” the spokesperson said.

Binay continues to lead the survey with a 26 percent rating for November. His ratings, however, continue to drop–from 31 percent in September and 41 percent in July.

While others on the list of potential candidates for the 2016 presidential elections have toyed with the possibility or skirted the issue, Binay has openly expressed his desire for the post.

Salgado claimed that the public has seen “the absence of substance behind the posturing and drama” of Binay’s critics.

“The people are also telling the senators to stop the mudslinging and attend to the more pressing needs of the country,” he said.

Binay is being linked to the alleged overpricing of buildings in Makati. His critics claim that he pocketed kickbacks from the construction of the Makati City parking building. It was former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado who said that the Binay family’s commission money was used to develop a 350-hectare estate in Batangas.

RELATED STORIES

Pulse Asia survey: Binay falling, Poe surging

Binay’s fall in ratings leaves race to 2016 wide open, say lawmakers