Enrile to raise Mamasapano issue vs Roxas if admin uses corruption vs Binay

If the administration will use corruption as an election issue, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile will raise the Mamasapano tragedy not only against President Benigno Aquino III but also his bet, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

“I will use Mamasapano as katapat. They use corruption, maliwanag ’yung Mamasapano e,” Enrile said during a weekly forum in the Senate on Thursday when sought to comment on Senate President Franklin Drilon’s statement that corruption would be an election issue and the administration was ready to defend Aquino’s record.

READ: Admin ready to defend Aquino’s record vs corruption, Drilon says

Enrile is supporting the presidential bid of Vice President Jejomar Binay while Drilon is pushing for Roxas.

“Kung gusto nila sila corruption, ako Mamasapano ang topic ko … magsabay kami at titingnan natin kung sino ang papalakpakan,” Enrile said.

“‘Yung Mamasapano ngayon ang iniisip ng tao. Batayan nila ano ba ito kung ganito ang president natin namamatay ang kasundaluhan nila,” he said.

Enrile earlier accused the President of being “actively” and “directly” involved in the botched Mamasapano operation on Jan. 25, 2015 that left 44 Special Action Force men and several others dead.

Told that his issue was against the President and not Roxas, Enrile pointed out that the administration’s standard-bearer was the head of the Department of Interior and Local Government at the time the raid in Maguindanao took place.

“He (Roxas) should have held the hand of his President and say: ‘Hey Mr. President, my men are dying in the field … kaya tinanong ko ‘yun, did they do anything? Did they send any message?” Enrile said.

Enrile believes the corruption issue that the administration might use against Binay will not bring down the latter.

He then noted how Binay’s rating continued to surge despite the corruption allegations being hurled at him.

“Ako kay Binay. Pupusta ako kay Binay. Bakit ako pupusta sa matatalo?” he said.

Enrile also pointed out how the late President Ferdinand Marcos got elected despite perceptions of being corrupt, among other sins that the latter had allegedly committed. RC