Binay: No conditions on UNA ‘guest candidates’

MANILA, Philippines – So-called guest candidates in the opposition’s senatorial slate will be free to choose who they want to campaign with: Vice President Jejomar Binay, administration standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, or independent Senator Grace Poe. 

Binay said he will not impose any condition on guest candidates of his United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). 

While the ruling Liberal Party (LP) initially prohibited its senatorial bets from sharing the stage with other presidential contenders, the Vice President said there will be no such condition from UNA. 

“We do not have any requirement. We just respect their being independent candidates. And they are happy that we invited them to be part of our list of candidates,” the UNA chairman said in an interview in Cabanatuan City on Tuesday, October 20. 

UNA is finalizing its 12-member senatorial slate, half of which will be “guest candidates,” or those also running under the LP and/or Poe’s ticket. 

Guest or shared candidates enjoy the endorsement of more than one slate even if they are not members of these parties, and have no commitment to support any one presidential bet. They are an illustration of the Philippines’ weak political party system. 

Binay’s party was supposed to announce its complete senatorial slate on Monday, October 19, but it postponed the declaration due to Typhoon Lando (international name: Koppu).

Rappler reported that UNA’s guest candidates, so far, are Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, former senators Panfilo Lacson, Richard “Dick” Gordon, and Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez.

Sotto, Gordon, and Zubiri are also included in Poe’s slate, while Lacson is guest candidate of Binay, Roxas, and Poe. Romualdez might also run as guest candidate of Poe. 

Having 6 guest candidates shows that UNA had difficulty fielding senatorial bets after Binay’s popularity plunged due to a yearlong corruption controversy. The Vice President faces various plunder complaints for allegedly overpriced projects when he was Makati mayor for 21 years.

In the 2013 senatorial race, Binay junked UNA guest candidates who did not join his party’s sorties but instead campaigned with the LP.  

Now, Binay said he understands why former allies abandoned him after taking their oath with UNA. 

“Alam mo, sa pulitika, lagi kang praktikal. Uunawain mo ‘yong lumalapit sa iyo. Survival. Hindi naman ako nagagalit doon. Ganyan ang pulitika,” he said. 

(You know, in politics, you must always be practical. You have to understand those approaching you. It’s survival. I am not mad at them. That’s how politics works.) 

The opposition standard-bearer said he knows many politicians merely take oaths even if they are not committed to the parties they are joining. 

He said it is possible his former allies will return to join him. “Until election day, many there will take their oath but their conscience will get the better of them.” 

‘Decentralize infra projects’ 

Binay was in Cabanatuan to visit the city in the wake of Typhoon Lando. He was also in Tarlac to inspect the damage from the storm. The Office of the Vice President said it sent relief goods to the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Quirino, and Nueva Vizcaya. 

Roxas also did his own rounds in the Lando-hit areas.

A longtime advocate of decentralization, the Vice President said the disaster highlighted the need to devolve services from the national government to local governments. 

“This is one problem. There was a bridge. People are mad because they told the public works department how to fix it because it was destroyed. There are really projects, especially farm-to-market roads that should be given to the local government. That is part of decentralization.”

Binay added that farmers need insurance for their crops, which were devastated by Lando’s strong rains and wind. He said he will give them seedlings to help them start over. 

“We have to review that, why the line is long for that. They say there are too many requirements. The land title, among others, is required. Many of our farmers have no title,” he said. 

Binay refused to call his visit a campaign trip even if it came a week after he filed his candidacy for president. 

He even took pride in checking on the storm-hit communities, saying he was always among the first to extend assistance after calamities. 

“Even way back, even in my first year in the vice presidency, I have been doing this. So this is not new. Second, when you go there personally, you get to know the needs of the people.”  

He added: “Damang-dama ng ating mga kababayan na naroon si Jojo Binay sa oras ng pangangailangan.” (Our fellow Filipinos really feel that Jojo Binay is there in times of need.) – Rappler.com