Binay allies out to cripple Noy before 2016 — LP

MANILA, Philippines - Allies of Vice President Jejomar Binay are out to cripple President Aquino politically so his endorsement of his successor in the 2016 elections would not carry much weight, leaders of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) claimed yesterday.         

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, who is LP secretary-general, said administration critics identified with Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) are working to “discredit the administration of President Aquino and diminish the power of his endorsement in the 2016 national elections.”         

At the same time, by attacking the administration, these critics “are providing a smokescreen for their peers who are now in deep trouble for misusing their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations,” he said.         

“It is too obvious. The people who are behind this smear campaign are hell-bent on destroying the gains of the Aquino administration so that they can have the upper hand in 2016. Crab mentality has to stop because this is the very reason why we cannot move forward as a nation,” Sarmiento said.         

“The opposition has been desperately trying to twist the facts to make it appear that their peers are victims in the PDAF scam. It’s just too bad that some people are too gullible to fall for their lies,” he added.         

He lamented that opposition figures have been trying to equate the administration’s use of government savings under the Disbursement Acceleration Program with the PDAF scam without providing any proof that DAP funds were misused.         

“On the contrary, key witnesses in P10-billion pork barrel scam led by Benhur Luy have directly pinpointed some key political figures belonging to the opposition as among those who misused their PDAF through bogus foundations allegedly set up by Janet Lim-Napoles,” he said.         

Luy and other witnesses and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have filed plunder cases against Napoles and Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla Jr.         

Estrada and Enrile are leaders of UNA, while Revilla chairs Lakas, the ruling party during the Arroyo administration.         

Napoles and the three senators have denied any wrongdoing.         

Another LP leader, Rep. Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City, said some opposition personalities “are already too pre-occupied in political mudslinging just to advance their political agenda in 2016 without realizing that their actions have been stalling government efforts to spread the benefits of the country’s unprecedented economic growth.”