VP Binay turns speech into political ad

MANILA, Philippines – It definitely wasn’t part of the TV news line up Friday evening, September 26, but Vice President Jejomar Binay’s speech from last week’s event appeared in the time slot of at least one primetime news program, TV Patrol – as political advertisement. 

The political advertisement of the survey frontrunner highlighted his promise to poor Filipinos, who make up the majority of voters.

Among Binay’s lines in the ad was this: “This is a fight for all Filipinos sleeping in push carts; for children going to class without notebooks and books and on an empty stomach; for peons and carpenters without homes; for farmers without their own land to farm; for those who, day in and day out, must fall in line to ride the MRT and LRT, braving the traffic and the flood, and going home at night with fear in their hearts because of the rampant criminality.”

The advertisement airs as Binay battles corruption allegations coming from his former allies in Makati City.

The advertisement carried a disclaimer – “Political Ad” – except it was hardly visible because the font was colored white and it was imposed on the seal of the Office the Vice President.

The Commission on Elections has previously ruled that political ads are not considered premature campaigning when they do not instruct viewers to vote for the featured candidate.

Valenzuela City Representative Sherwin Gatchalian, who earlier announced plans to join Binay’s senatorial ticket, has been airing TV ads, too.

On Wednesday, Binay also announced that he is turning the coalition that supported his vice presidential bid in 2010 – United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) – into a political party for 2016. – Rappler.com