By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Vice President Jejomar Binay was quite straightforward when he revealed his plan for 2016 during his visit in this city the other day.
“I don’t want to be a hypocrite. Yes, I will run for president,” Binay said.
But the vice president believes there is an appropriate time for all the political talk. “In the meantime,” he said, “I will focus on the work assigned to me by the President (Benigno Aquino III).”
On Saturday, Binay made rounds in public markets in this capital city.
From the Bacolod-Silay Airport, he went to the Bacolod North Public Market, where he joined vendors, supporters and some local officials in a boodle fight.
He went around, shaking hands and having his photos taken with vendors. He also visited the Libertad Public Market and Brgy. 35.
Visits like this almost automatically raise the eyebrows of skeptics — and elicit insinuations that he is already harrowing his campaign ground.
Binay simply shrugged these off. He said he was just reliving fond childhood memories of going to the markets.
Talks have it that, if Binay runs for president, he will be up against Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II — more popularly known as “Mr. Palengke” — of the Liberal Party.
Roxas was with President Benigno Aquino III when the latter went to Negros Occidental on Thursday last week to inaugurate the country’s first large-scale commercial solar power plant in San Carlos City.
In fact, during a private dinner with around 20 mayors in the province, Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. endorsed Roxas for the presidency.
Binay said he respects the governor’s decision.
‘NEGROS REGION ATTRACTIVE’
On the proposal to place Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental under one region, Binay said, “Why not?”
It would be “advantageous” because “it would be more attractive to investors,” said the vice president.
Aquino on Thursday said the Negros officials’ proposal is already with the DILG for review.
Currently, Negros Occidental is part of Western Visayas, while Negros Oriental belongs to Central Visayas.
‘JUST LIKE GARCI TAPES’
Meanwhile, Binay said the many lists of names of personalities allegedly involved in the pork barrel scam are only causing “confusion among the people.”
“I think that is the objective of having so many lists,” he said, noting that not one of the lists, one of which is from the alleged mastermind of the scam, businesswoman Janet Lim–Napoles, is reliable.
“It’s just like the Garci tape,” Binay said, recalling the infamous 2004 wiretapped phone conversation between then President Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo and Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
“’Yong sa Garci, two tapes. One is supposed to be genuine, the other one is not. It depends kung ano ang papakinggan mo. So, ito namang ngayon, apat ito. That is the cause of the confusion,” he said.
Binay said he is not part of the scam. “You can never find my name there (on the lists) because I was a mayor that time.”
“It’s very unfortunate, but we have to accept it. This is the biggest (public fund) scam (in the country so far),” he said. “There are allegations that members of Congress were involved. Ang dami nila. Medyo malungkot.”/PN
