Jojo Binay is the big winner

It would be easy for a P-Noy apologist to claim he was the big winner in the mid-term election. After all, the senatorial candidates he endorsed won 9 seats out of the 12 contested. But only one of those 9 is truly from P-Noy’s LP – his cousin Bam. He can’t exactly depend on the rest if push comes to shove.

On the other hand, VP Jojo Binay got what he wanted. He proved that the Binay political brand is more than just alive and well. It is thriving at superstar status… so is his nationwide machinery of local officials.

Nancy Binay’s candidacy was not about electing her to the Senate. It is about striking fear in the hearts of ambitious politicians that they better start showing loyalty to the next likely tenant of Malacañang this early.

UNA, the haphazardly constituted “opposition” slate, also settled the leadership question. Binay showed he is now master over both Erap and JPE.

Jojo Binay is no longer just the former running mate of Erap. As for JPE, the last election showed he can’t even get his son Jack elected senator. Erap at least managed to get JV in the tail end of the winning list… barely!

Will Manny Villar seek another run for the Presidency? That is possible but I am told Mrs. Villar spent more than half a billion pesos and she can only muster being number 10 while Nancy was number 5. In a battle of proxies for 2016, Binay won over Villar last May 6.

Inasmuch as P-Noy and Binay are not really antagonistic with each other, what we have is a kind of grand coalition which can and should be used to get the nation’s business moving. The Liberals don’t have enough firepower in the Senate without this coalition.

Indeed, expect the ambitious senators to do everything to further their dreams of Malacañang. Maybe and that is just maybe, they have an understanding that whatever happens, P-Noy is not going to be a lame duck president in the next three years. 

This early, I have detected a strong anti-Binay backlash among the so called intelligentsia. You can sense that foreboding on Facebook the morning after the election. I can feel that too in an e-group of retired Ateneo alumni in their late 60s and 70s to which I (a UP diehard) was recently invited. It is almost as if the prospect of a Binay presidency starts the years of tribulation leading to the second coming.

“It is no secret,” one of them wrote, “that Binay enjoys inordinate material wealth which could not be had through salaries from government position or through normal industry. There is the romantic notion that he robs the rich to give to the poor... robbery nevertheless.”

Piped another: “The idea of having a Jojo Binay take over from the gains achieved by the honest governance of P-Noy is unimaginable. We seem pretty sure that all that has been gained will be for naught once the baton is handed over to him.”

But there are enough Ateneans willing to give Binay the benefit of the doubt: “I’m curious. Where do you get the idea that Binay will run the Philippines to the ground if he becomes President? It certainly doesn’t look like it. He built Makati to the greatness and importance it has now.  He is doing a good job as VP and has consistently higher performance ratings than P-Noy by the SWS and Pulse Asia.

“To enrich himself? As Rene Saguisag says, Rene and Binay still live in the modest family homes they have had since the sixties. The VP still lives in a family compound in San Antonio Village which is not high class.”

I guess this is what Jojo B has going for him. He is not flashy. And he trained his children to be down to earth too. You don’t hear stories about the Binay kids strutting around like the stories we have heard about Jack Enrile or other children of prominent politicians.

We have heard stories about how property developers in Makati have been and are being fleeced. But if half the stories are true, Binay and family should be living in boundless luxury by now.

As Nancy Binay pointed out in a TV interview, how come the whole family of the VP and their kids including Nancy all live together with their kids all these years in an old family compound in Makati? If they are amassing all that wealth, wouldn’t it show somehow?

I think the presidency is his for the taking in 2016 unless someone more compelling materializes by then or Jojo himself decides to retire. The ambitious senators with misty eyes for Malacañang are Chiz Escudero, Allan Cayetano, Bong Revilla and Bongbong Marcos. Kung sila lang, Binay is the better choice.

None of those senators have managed even a sari sari store… how can they manage an ungovernable country like ours? Ok, some will say how about P-Noy?

Well, I will reserve my judgment on P-Noy because I am still hoping he will produce tangible results before he bows out. Admittedly, the first three years of P-Noy proves my point on the need to have proper management experience.

What about Mar Roxas? Isn’t he better than Binay?

I voted for Mar in 2010 and in hindsight I am glad he didn’t get elected. Mar proved to be a sorry excuse for an executive. He claimed to have been a Wall Street investment banker but I have my doubts.

No one from Wall Street worth his perks can be as indecisive as Mar had been. Mar’s watch at DOTC destroyed his image as a potential President. His current lackluster stint at DILG isn’t helping him either.

The Liberals don’t have anyone to field against Jojo B. No, not Drilon. Frank Drilon doesn’t have Binay’s present national reach and masa acceptance. If he started to work now, he still won’t be able to overtake Jojo B by 2016 to matter.

What Jojo B has in his favor is his hands-on experience in running the country’s principal city. People will say it shouldn’t be too difficult to produce results in a city that is overflowing with cash from the big corporations headquartered there.

But as Nancy Binay pointed out, when Binay took over Makati as Mayor, records show Makati was bankrupt.  So it is indeed the astute financial management of the VP that moved Makati forward.

Jojo’s campaign slogan, “ganito kami sa Makati, sana sa buong Pilipinas din” will resonate in 2016. Of course it will be difficult for anyone, Binay included, to replicate the cradle to grave social safety nets he has in Makati for the entire country. The National Treasury simply cannot afford that.

But the germ of the idea is there and it will provide a beacon of hope to our masa that Binay will find a way to make it all happen. No one else seems to have the resolve or the experience to see it that way.

Binay’s ascendance is causing so much anxiety and discomfort mostly among the educated middle class. But I suspect the ruling elite know how to handle the likes of him the way the Makati Business Club types had a modus vivendi with Binay as Makati Mayor. Indeed, they prefer the devil they already know.

Binay’s appeal in 2016 is his ability to get things done. I suspect people will close their eyes on some corruption (real or imagined) having been resigned to that as a fact of life.

Political dynasty is also a non issue. The recent election showed voters are ready to make exemptions. But they will look for someone who can tangibly deliver the goods people expect from government.

There is a wild card in 2016. I am told that 40 per cent of the electorate will be voting for a President for the first time. Age has started to be an issue in this year’s election and could be a bigger and crucial one in 2016.

Binay will be 74 by 2016. His challenge is how to keep himself relevant to the young voters against younger rivals. That’s not easy.

Heckler

The Professional Heckler had been really hot lately, inspired by the election results. Here are some samples of his refreshing wit. But for more, it is best to access his website:  http://professionalheckler.wordpress.com/

The midterm election is over. Cynthia Villar and Jamby Madrigal can now stop acting like they’re friends.

Jack Enrile is at No. 15. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is demanding a refund from ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya.’

Defeated Congressional candidate Nelly Villafuerte of Camarines Sur accuses proclaimed winner Leni Robredo of cheating. That’s like accusing Albay Governor Joey Salceda of womanizing.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco