MANILA, Philippines – It’s business as usual for Vice President Jejomar Binay as he goes around vote-rich provinces in the middle of the biggest corruption scandal to hit his political career.

But Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of 3 Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee members probing allegations of corruption against Binay, is confident the voting public sees through the charade.

“He has mastered the art of deceiving the people. He pretends to be one with the masses. You’ve seen Hacienda Binay and he lives like a king there,” said Trillanes in a Thursday, November 20, interview on Rappler’s #TalkThursday. 

In previous interviews with the media, Binay dismissed the accusations against him as “weakening.” The Vice President himself has been busy – going around the country, participating in “boodle fights” held in public markets and meeting local officials left and right.

To Trillanes, Binay’s most recent and aggressive political foe, it’s obvious that Binay is campaigning. “He’s been at it since day 1 [and] our electoral system allows such a practice,” said the senator.

Trillanes described the situation as “unfortunate because a lot of our poor countrymen get easily deceived by such gestures,” while adding the public are “sensitive” to Binay’s so-called style of evading the issue.

But the Vice President, who declared his intention to run for president as early as 2010, said it’s hard to tell when it comes to incumbent officials. “Let​’​s just be honest with each other, we will not be able to distinguish whether I am working or campaigning. Let​’​s not be hypocrites,” he told reporters in Cebu on Thursday.

‘The pretender’

The narrative of “rich versus poor” was first brought up by Binay himself when he tagged his detractors as “elitist and anti-poor.”

Binay’s camp said the Vice President was only reacting to Trillanes’ description of Binay as being “kulay mahirap (having the same skin color as a poor man).”

Again hitting Binay’s narrative of being “one with the poor,” Trillanes said, “He’s the billionaire in this fight. I’m the poorest senator.”

Binay has a declared net worth of P63 million, although Trillanes insists it is actually more. The senator, meanwhile, has a net worth of over P4.9 million.

For the last 3 months, the subcommittee has investigated an alleged overpriced city hall building built during Binay and his son’s terms as mayor.

Over the course of 12 hearings, however, whistleblowers have come forward to accuse the Vice President of amassing wealth through rigged bids and kickbacks from city projects.

The probe is far from over, said Trillanes, who said he is prepared to take on the political backlash the probe might cause. 

Reacting to Binay’s spokesman and former party-mate Cavite Governor Juanito Victor Remulla calling him the “Yolanda” of senators, Trillanes said: “I’ve heard worse… Destroyer? Probably yes. The destroyer of the corrupt. I’d be proud of that.”

Although the Senate has suspended all committee hearings as it tackles the 2015 budget, the senator said they are trying to schedule one more hearing before the year ends.

The subcommittee then comes back into full-swing in 2015 when Congress resumes. Trillanes said the worst is definitely not over for Binay.

“I don’t see him being relaxed. He wouldn’t have chickened out of our debate if he was relaxed. He is in panic mode,” Trillanes said. – Rappler.com