Binay: Roxas behind ‘Oplan Stop Nognog 2016’

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay tagged Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II as the mastermind behind the supposed “Oplan Stop Nognog 2016” operations against him.

Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) has declared his plan to run in the 2016 presidential elections. Roxas is the ruling Liberal Party’s president-on-leave and presumptive candidate in 2016.

Binay also accused Senate President Franklin Drilon, the LP vice chairman, of helping Roxas.

“Si Mar Roxas ang isa sa nangunguna sa Oplan Nognog 2016. Hindi naman ako magugulat doon. Unang-una, ang salitang nognog ay panglalait, minamasama ang pagiging maitim mo,” Binay told ANC’s Lynda Jumilla in a one-on-one interview aired Tuesday night, October 21. 

(Mar Roxas is the brains behind Oplan Nognog 2016. It doesnt’ shock me. First, nognog is a derogatory term, picking on one’s dark complexion.)

Binay repeatedly referred to the supposed dirty tricks operation as behind the campaign to ruin his chances in the 2016 elections. 

The Senate probe into alleged anomalous contracts in Makati and his supposed undeclared wealth is a part of the demolition job, he said.

The probe has become a forum for Binay’s critics to accuse him and his family of earning kickbacks from the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall II Parking Building and other city hall contracts. He is also accused of illegally owning the 350-hectare “Hacienda Binay” in Batangas province through dummies.

Binay said all the allegations raised against him are “geared to prevent me from becoming a candidate and becoming a president.”

Binay said the participation of Roxas is clear. He cited the involvement of Roxas’ 2010 campaign funder, Buddy Zamora, in the aerial survey of the 350-hectare farm in Batangas that is allegedly owned by the Binays through dummies. One of Roxas’s staff was also supossedly a passenger in the chopper that surveyed the property. 

Binay also talked about an incident when former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado – the star witness against Binay in the Senate probe – was hospitalized and Roxas was among his first visitors. 

“Huwag naman tayong maging hipokrito pa. Kandidato siya. Ako hindi ako ipokrito,” Binay said referring to Roxas’s refusal to admit his plans in 2016. (Let’s not be hypocrites here. He’s a candidate. I’m not a hyprocrite [about my plans].)

The Commission on Audit confirmed “red flags” in the Makati infrastructure project. Senator Antonio Trillanes IV maintains that the owner of the Hacienda Binay is a dummy.

Binay continues to defend his decision to snub the Senate probe, saying the Senate probe is already “pre-jduged.”

Binay said Mercado, his former ally, was supposedly paid millions to be used in the propaganda against him. 

The camp of the Vice President accused Roxas of hatching the Oplan Stop Nognog 2016 with the help of Nacionalista Party Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. 

Binay has been the runaway winner in presidential surveys. An internal survey shows he will even win in a two-way-battle with President Benigno Aquino III. (READ: Binay will wallop Aquino in 2016 – survey)

In an August interview on the same ANC program, Roxas told Jumilla he can beat Binay. (READ: Mar Roxas on 2016 elections: I can defeat Binay – again) – Rappler.com