Binay’s Achilles’ heel
>> Wednesday, December 17, 2014
PERRYSCOPE
Perry Diaz
Perry Diaz
Up
until a few months ago, Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Cabauatan Binay Sr. was on
top of the world. He was untouchable and invincible. He
probably thought that he was second only to the Holy Family. Perhaps
he was ordained to holiness – or greatness -- at birth when his parents named
him “Jejomar,” a contraption of the names Jesus, Joseph, and
Mary. Indeed, Jejomar seemed to have possessed
an “agimat” – amulet – that gave him mystical powers, and kept him
out of harm’s way… until now. Then the whole world turned upside
down. He was no longer untouchable or
invincible. His agimat must have worn off.
But agimat or no agimat, what happened to Binay was
unavoidable. The moment he declared his candidacy for
president in 2016, all guns were trained on him. And within two
months his popularity ratings plummeted 10% in surveys. Such
sudden drop in his popularity ratings indicates that Binay – who had enjoyed
“very high” marks in popularity since he was elected vice-president – has one
vulnerability; that is, he may not be the “Mr. Clean” that he claims to
be.
As salvo after salvo from his accusers hit him, he might turn out to be
the most corrupt public official since the late dictator, Ferdinand E.
Marcos. But the difference is that no past president before him had
been accused of massive corruption before assuming the
presidency. In the case of Binay, all these allegations of
corruption happened within a span of three decades, from the time the late
President Cory Aquino appointed him Mayor of Makati City after Mayor Nemesio I.
Yabut died while in office during the EDSA “People Power”
Revolution. Since then, Binay, his wife Elenita, and son Junjun held
power over one of the richest – if not the richest – city governments in the
country.
Can of worms
In March 2001, the first exposé of corruption against the
Binays surfaced. Investigative journalist Miriam Grace A. Go
published a detailed account of questionable properties allegedly acquired by
the Binays. Titled “Lord of Makati,” it said: “In less than a
decade, Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay, former chair of the Metro Manila Development
Authority (MMDA) and former mayor of Makati, accumulated at least P80 million
worth of real estate properties in Makati and Batangas, which he kept
undeclared, our investigation shows. The amount excludes P12 million in
declared investments, as well as other businesses that he and his friends
reportedly control through dummy corporations.”
But his agimat must have been working for him
then. All he did was deny those allegations,
and zingo! his problems went away. Since then, “denial”
had become an effective modus operandi to deal with allegations of
corruption. In fact, his mastery of the art of denial has become
legendary in political circles.
Indeed, it didn’t matter what allegations – ghost employees, overpriced
equipment and supplies, kickbacks on projects and purchases, and grease money
extorted from businessmen – were hurled at him during elections; all he had to
do was deny, deny, and deny. He was so good at it that he could
wring himself free from any situation and come out of it fresh and
unblemished. That was then.
Now, that Binay is running for President, he’s faced with the
biggest challenge in his political life. And guess what his first
campaign promise was? He vowed to continue President Aquino’s
anti-corruption drive. Whoa! That would be like Don Michael
Corleone promising the American voters that if they elected him President, he’d
stop organized crime in America. Surmise it to say, the difference
between organized crime in America and institutionalized corruption in the
Philippines is in form only, but the substance is the same -- it’s all about
money. Yes, dirty money.
He also promised to continue the “daang matuwid” (straight
path) that Aquino started. Makes one wonder what “daang matuwid” really
means to him. As the recent Pork Barrel scam and questionable
Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) turned out to
be, “daang matuwid” seemed to project the notion that the shortest
distance between a politician’s pockets and his secret bank accounts is a
straight path.
With the Philippines’ strict secret bank deposit laws, corrupt
officials, gambling lords, vice lords, and those involved in illicit trades,
hiding their loot in Philippine banks is safer than depositing them in Swiss
banks. Indeed, corrupt officials need not leave the country to
stash their ill-gotten wealth; they can just go to their local banks and
deposit it.
‘Invisible exodus’
Many believe that if Binay were elected President, it would be “business
as usual” for a lot of politicians. Sensing that Binay appears to be
unbeatable, politicians of various stripes began jumping into the Binay
bandwagon. A recent news report said: “At least 48 of the
120-member Liberal Party have so far trooped to Vice President JejomarBinay’s
camp to signify their intention to back his presidential bid, in the process
defecting and abandoning Interior Secretary Mar Roxas II, the LP’s presumptive
standard bearer. The ‘inevitable exodus’ was disclosed during the
news conference of the members of the House Independent Minority Bloc.”
In my article, “Balimbing Republic revisited” (December
3, 2014), I wrote: “With the 2016 presidential elections fast
approaching, political realignments are beginning to change the political
landscape of the country. New faces replace old
faces. But don’t take oldies for granted. They have a trove of
election tricks.
“The question is: Is Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’
Binay, an ‘oldie’ favorite, going to be the next president, or are the people
going to go with a new face in the arena like Sen. Grace Poe?”
The Grace factor
Although Poe denied any ambitions to run for higher office in
2016, many believe that her decision is not set in stone. Surveys
show that Poe is only 10% behind Binay. With a year and half away
from Election Day, Poe’s popularity ratings would rise the moment she enters
the presidential derby.
If there was one opponent that Binay is scared to face, it’s
Poe. It is no wonder then that Binay’s camp has been trying hard to
convince Poe to run as Binay’s vice-presidential running mate. If
she accepts the offer, a Binay-Poe tandem would be unbeatable.
But why would Poe team up with someone who is tarnished with corruption
charges? However, if Poe runs for President, it would give the voters
a choice. And with Binay’s Achilles’ heel exposed in the open, he
needs a more powerful agimat and lots of prayer to beat Poe. (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)
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