Binay camp thumbs down Trillanes’ Nov 22 deadline

MANILA, Philippines – The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay has rejected the November 22 deadline set by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for his face-off with the embattled official, and called it a “bullying” tactic of the lawmaker.

“Senator Trillanes thinks that like in the Senate, he can bully Vice President Jejomar C. Binay and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP),” vice presidential spokesperson Joey Salgado said on Tuesday, November 4, in response to the senator’s deadline for his debate with Binay.

Salgado added: “A debate has ground rules. A debate is a forum to inform, not to harass or intimidate. It is a forum for a sober presentation of arguments, not a bully pulpit. It is not a one-sided political circus like the on-going Senate witchhunt being conducted by Senator Trillanes.”

The Binay camp claimed that by setting a deadline, Trillanes had signalled his looming withdrawal from the debate.

“We do suspect that by imposing a deadline on the Vice President and the KBP, Senator Trillanes is laying the predicate for backing out of the debate. He knows fully well that given a forum for sober, calm, and informed discourse, he will never win the debate,” Salgado said. 

In an interview on DZMM on Monday, Trillanes set a November 22 deadline on his debate with Binay, which would be exactly a month after the Vice President challenged him to the one-on-one.

In a forum with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) on October 22, Binay challenged Trillanes to a debate if the KBP would be willing to sponsor it, and that it should be  held outside the Senate where Trillanes would not be protected by parliamentary immunity.

Binay had  deemed the Senate probe on the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building 2, which has branched out into corruption allegations against him and his family members, as a “kangaroo court” meant to dash his chances in the 2016 presidential race. 

The Vice President has skipped the hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee, but has not given his formal response to the invitation of the mother committee for him to attend the November 6 hearing. – Rappler.com