Binay wants to attend Senate hearing on Thursday - UNA exec

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay is planning to attend Thursday's Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the corruption allegations leveled against him, his ally said on Tuesday.

Speaking to ANC's Headstart, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said Binay wants to appear at the Senate and answer the accusations that he pocketed kickbacks from various government projects in Makati.

"As of last night, he is going. But I am still trying to convince him [not to attend the Senate hearing]," said Tiangco, interim-president of Binay's United Nationalist Alliance political party.

"Kagabi, sabi niya, pabayaan niyo na akong pumunta," he added.

Tiangco said he will still try to persuade Binay to snub the hearing.

"Kung hindi namin makukumbinsi hanggang bukas nang gabi, then, anong magagawa namin?" Tiangco said.

The opposition lawmaker also maintained that Binay is not backing out of a proposed debate with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Tiangco, however, does not want the debate to push through, believing that Binay has nothing to gain from it.

RELATED: Trillanes expects Binay to cancel debate despite advantage

Binay is being investigated in connection with the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall II parking building and his purported 350-hectare property in Rosario town, Batangas.

His camp reportedly said that he will only attend the Senate hearings if he is invited by the Blue Ribbon mother committee, not the sub-committee currently conducting the inquiry.

The committee issued a formal invitation to Binay last week with an assurance that it will "extend courtesies befitting the Office of the Vice President."

Binay has criticized the sub-committee probe for supposedly masquerading as in aid of legislation, saying it is only aimed at derailing his presidential bid.