UP UNTIL 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 Jejomar Binay’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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