ILOCOS SUR, Philippines – Is cheating the only way for Interior Secretary and presumptive Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II to win the 2016 elections?

Opposition standard-bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay seems to think so, telling reporters in Iloilo City that Roxas’ advantage come 2016 would be the ability to cheat and buy votes. 

While in Ilocos Sur, Roxas shot back with a one-liner: “Ang sinungaling, kapatid ng magnanakaw (Liars and thieves go together).”

Roxas and Binay are expected to face off in the presidential elections, with Roxas as the ruling LP’s bet and Binay as the standard-bearer of his United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

The interior chief’s response was a reference to the barrage of corruption allegations Binay is facing. Over the course of several months, Binay has been at the center of a Senate probe into allegations of corruption during the Vice President’s time as mayor of Makati.

Binay, an early front runner in surveys on voters’ preference, has since seen his numbers drop, especially after the Anti-Money Laundering Council asked the courts to freeze his and his alleged dummies’ bank accounts pending an investigation.

Roxas, in contrast, has been lagging in surveys, placing 3rd to 4th in the most recent ones.

The Vice President used to be a member of President Benigno Aquino III’s Cabinet but resigned in late June in protest of a “failed and crooked” government. Roxas and other administration allies hit back at Binay, accusing him of bolting the Cabinet only because the President shot down the possibility of endorsing the former Makati mayor in 2016.

Bad blood between Roxas and Binay go way back. The two faced off as vice presidential bets in 2010, Roxas as Aquino’s running-mate and Binay as former President Joseph Estrada’s bet. Roxas was leading vice presidential surveys but Binay surged in the days before election day.

Binay eventually won, although this has been contested by Roxas.

Roxas has yet to announce his plans for 2016, but is expected to do so after Aquino anoints him as his chosen successor some time after the President’s last State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 2017.

But some allies of the LP are also pushing for Senator Grace Poe, who overtook Binay in preference surveys, as the ruling coalition’s bet in 2016. – Rappler.com