Binay camp fears government savings may fund Mar bid

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay yesterday expressed concern that the P303-billion savings from the 2014 national budget could be used to bankroll the presidential campaign of Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II next year.

Rico Quicho, Binay’s spokesman for political affairs, said it is perplexing that the administration asked Congress for P2.4 trillion in 2014 but did not release 13 percent or P303 billion.

“(Budget) Secretary Butch Abad has said in an interview this will be released in the second half of this year. Why? We cannot help but think that the ‘savings’ will be used to fund the campaign of LP presidential candidate Mar Roxas,” Quicho said in a statement.

He said it is quite suspicious that an administration that came up with the Development Acceleration Program (DAP) – portions of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court – to allegedly accelerate implementation of programs and fast-track development failed to release substantial amounts for important development projects.

“Why didn’t they ‘accelerate’ the release of funds last year? And why release the funds in the second half of this year? They’re not only incompetent. What they’re doing is also highly suspicious,” he said.

Quicho said the government’s failure to release funds to the Department of Education (P2.2 billion); Department of Public Works and Highways (P26.3 billion); Department of Agriculture (P2.6 billion); Department of Agrarian Reform (P5.8 billion); and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (P1.9 billion) affected services for millions of Filipinos.

He said Abad and other economic managers admitted that the backlog in the release of funds or “underspending” in general has been affecting the country’s economic growth during the joint congressional oversight committee on public expenditures last June.

The National Economic and Development Authority also revealed recently that the economy grew by a mere 5.2 percent during the first quarter of 2015, its slowest since 2012, Quicho said.

He said the words underspending and savings are a misnomer.

“They did not underspend or save at all. What happened was they did not release the funds to the government agencies and thus, they hindered growth. Palpak (incompetent),” he said.

Quicho also noted the unused funds from budgets of different agencies will also go to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (P16 billion) allegedly for government employees’ pension, the Department of Transportation and Communications (P20.7 billion) and the Department of Agriculture (P13 billion) for the construction and repair of irrigation facilities and new farm-to-market roads.

“Billions of pesos will go to DOTC which was formerly headed by Mar Roxas and to DILG which Roxas still controls. He resigned but he is still there. The President said he is still looking for a replacement and that he may ask Roxas to ‘finish a lot of things that are being done.’ That does not make sense at all. It just fuels suspicions that the LP is indeed filling up its campaign war chest,” he said.

Annoying tactics

Meanwhile, Binay’s spokesman for media affairs said the public is getting bored and exasperated by the antics of Binay’s tormentors in the Senate who boast of exposés against him which turn out to be duds.

“Every time Sen. (Antonio) Trillanes holds hearings, he always claims to have explosives against the Vice President but it always turns out to be duds,” Joey Salgado said.

Quicho added that they expect the Vice President’s political opponents to continue the “demolition job” against him despite their failure to come out with strong evidence.

“If they really believe that they have strong evidence against the Vice President, they should expose them now,” Quicho said.

Salgado urged Trillanes to face the damage suit filed against him by the Vice President.

He said the civil case filed against Trillanes and 12 others brings all the issues to an impartial venue.

“So our appeal to Sen. Trillanes, instead of making up excuses, he should just face the Vice President in court,” Salgado said.

“The Senate is his home court. They own the venue. They are the coach, the team manager, the prosecutors, the judge. They’re also the jury. But the court is impartial, it would listen to both sides. It would only listen to evidence, not on guess or hearsays,” he said.

United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) president Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco also slammed Senate sub-committee chair Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III for saying that the panel has no plans of ending its investigation on the alleged anomalies involving Binay until his trusted aides, Gerry Limlingan and Eduviges Baloloy, show up.

“We all want Gerry Limlingan and Ebeng Baloloy to come out, but it’s beyond our control. So if that is their reason for extending the hearings, we respect it. But I think that is only an excuse to continue the demolition job (against the Vice President),” Tiangco said.

Trillanes on Tuesday said he would continue his exposé against Binay during the next hearing on Aug. 20, exactly one year since the sub-committee conducted its hearing on the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II and other related anomalies against the Vice President.

Trillanes declined to give details of his exposé but said he has the necessary documents and witnesses to support his allegations.

Palace hands off

Malacañang, for its part, maintained yesterday it was not behind the investigations into the alleged irregularities involving the Vice President and his Makati City mayor-son, Jejomar Erwin Jr.

In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said there was no basis to point to the administration as the one behind the supposed demolition job against the Binays.

“Ask the Senate. That’s a separate branch of government and that question should not be posed on us. Of course, they can accuse us of being behind it. But, hey, the senators there are …(not from the Liberal Party),” Lacierda said, referring to the Nacionalista Party of Trillanes and Alan Peter Cayetano, who had been leading the Senate probes.

Lacierda said Pimentel was also not from LP but from Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino or PDP-Laban.

Lacierda also twitted the Binay camp for saying there would be more investigations against the Vice President now that Roxas has been endorsed by President Aquino.

“Just ask the Senate why. I mean, they are the best people to answer that question… If there will be more investigations, it’s not because the President endorsed Mar. That’s an inane one,” Lacierda said.

“There’s no one-to-one correspondence between the endorsement and the number of charges being brought up. If there are charges of corruption that will be leveled against the Vice President, it’s because… again,

ask the Senate,” he said, brushing aside claims that Trillanes was an attack dog of the administration.

Erap’s support vital

In a related development, an official of UNA yesterday said the support of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada would boost further the presidential bid of Binay.

Lawyer JV Bautista, UNA secretary general, admitted that Estrada would be a big loss to their party if he will not support the Vice President.

He, however, pointed out that they are prepared for such eventuality.

Bautista described Estrada as one of the pillars of the opposition.

“Let’s face it, Erap is a big voice in the opposition. At any point in time he never joined the administration,” he said.

Estrada had said that the candidate he would support should be sincere in serving the masses and should be with the opposition.

In the event that Sen. Grace Poe will not throw her hat in the presidential ring, Bautista said UNA expects Estrada to support Binay.

Poe is the goddaughter of Estrada.

Her father, deceased actor Fernando Poe Jr., was Estrada’s best friend. – With Aurea Calica, Non Alquitran