Erap himself may run against Binay

More bad news for Vice President Jejomar Binay: Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, the former president and his erstwhile ally, told me last Sunday that if Binay is adopted by the administration Liberal Party, his Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino will support another presidential candidate.

“I myself may even run against him,” Erap said. The very popular ex-president is one of the triumvirate that organized the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), the other two being then Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile (now detained on plunder charges) and Binay himself. Erap and Binay were running mates against the Aquino-Roxas tandem in the 2010 presidential election. Aquino and Binay won. While Erap lost, Binay could not have won without the “masa” votes of Erap’s followers.

In return, Binay, who announced his plans to run for president early, promised that he would draft Erap’s son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (also now detained on plunder charges), as his running mate. But with Jinggoy and Enrile in detention, Binay seems to have abandoned his beleaguered allies and is now eagerly courting the administration party to make him its presidential candidate, to the point of saying that he is open to having Interior Secretary Mar Roxas as his running mate (obviously to eliminate Roxas as an opponent in 2016). It was an invitation that Roxas immediately shot down, saying that Binay had opposed the Liberal Party’s budget reforms.

Erap was angered by this “treacherous” act of Binay. He emphasized that if Binay runs as the administration party’s presidential candidate, all deals are off and he, Erap, would support somebody else against Binay and maybe run against Binay himself.

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In another blow to Binay’s presidential ambition, Senate President Franklin Drilon, vice chair of the Liberal Party, laughed at Binay’s claim to reporters that “he heard” the party would “adopt” him as its standard-bearer.

“The LP has never talked about it, and anyway our candidate is LP president Mar Roxas,” Drilon said.

“He should have his ears examined,” somebody said at the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday. “He has been hearing things. Or maybe he wants so much to be president that he has been dreaming about it and he heard those voices in his dreams.”

“It is dangerous to have a president who ‘hears’ voices,” another journalist quipped. “He may make decisions based on what he hears from those voices.”

Asked about his opinion on the proposed term extension for President Aquino, Drilon pointed out that the Constitution does not allow any term extension for presidents and that there is no more time to draft an amendment and have it ratified by the people in a plebiscite.

Asked about the P501-billion lump-sum appropriation in the proposed budget and criticisms that it is another form of pork barrel, Drilon said all the lump-sum appropriations such as the Calamity Fund, Contingency Fund, etc. have been rolled into one.

Why are they not separated? Isn’t it risky to give the President so much discretion on so huge an amount?

Drilon: “We can break it up if that is the wish of the people.”

Will the Senate consider as a priority measure the supplemental budget submitted by the executive branch to fund projects under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which has been outlawed by the Supreme Court?

Drilon: There is no supplemental budget.

Congress has been asked by Malacañang to redefine the word “savings” so that the Department of Budget and Management can hijack funds long before the fiscal year ends. Is it legal, or is Congress allowed to pass legislation to redefine “savings”?

Drilon: “Savings” is defined by law. Congress will merely pass a law to make clear what the word means. The Supreme Court can still interpret its intent and meaning.

What are the priority bills of the Senate for its second regular session? Is there still time to finish all the priority measures given the delay in the submission of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law? What is causing the delay in the passage of the latter?

Drilon: We are making sure that the Bangsamoro Basic Law does not violate the Constitution. We do not want the Supreme Court to shoot it down again. But we are confident that it will be passed before the end of the current session.

What about the freedom of information bill? Will it finally be passed by the current Congress?

Drilon: The Senate has already passed the bill. It is now in the House of Representatives.

What can you say about the big drop in the satisfaction ratings of the Senate, and you as Senate president? In fact, the Senate got the worst rating among all the government agencies surveyed.

Drilon: The drop is obviously due to the plunder cases against senators. Because I am Senate president, naturally my rating

also dropped. That is why we are trying very hard to regain the people’s trust.