Nancy eyes Makati’s top post

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Nancy Binay has expressed openness to run for Makati mayor next year, even if it means going against the husband of her younger sister, outgoing Mayor Abby Binay.

“I am seriously contemplating it,” Senator Binay said yesterday of her decision to go for the mayoral post after completing two terms in the Senate.

Calling herself an “accidental” candidate in politics after being thrust to the Senate in 2013, Binay said she has learned to accept her duty in public service and hopes to cross over to the family’s turf.

But the family squabbling has affected her decision to run for mayor, amid reports that Rep. Luis Campos is eyeing the same post.

“It is still my wish as the eldest to settle this dispute in our family,” Binay said, adding that it should be about the “legacy of our father that we want to continue,” referring to former vice president Jejomar Binay, who served as longtime Makati mayor.

While Abby’s husband Campos is technically not a Binay, it would still be a political showdown for Makati that reflects the internal rift in the Binay family.

“I have considered that deciding to run means sacrificing my relationship with (my) in-law. But for the sake of the people in Makati, we have to sacrifice that,” Binay said.

Politics aside, “at the end of the day, we are still family,” the senator said.

“I still have not lost hope that our family would not enter into another dispute. But it has happened, there is a big probability that it will still happen, even though my brother-in-law is technically not a Binay,” she added.

The Binay family rift stemmed from the political showdown between siblings Abby and Junjun Binay for the Makati city hall post in 2019.

Abby, who is on her third and last consecutive term as Makati mayor, said in January that she is giving herself until March to decide whether to run for Taguig’s top post, after the Supreme Court granted jurisdiction over 10 enlisted men’s barrio or “embo” barangays in Makati to Taguig in a 2021 ruling that was affirmed in 2023.