Watch Aquino's hand in Binay-Roxas rivalry

CLARK FIELD (PLDT/WeRoam) — The backstage rivalry between Vice President Jojo Binay and former senator Mar Roxas, the man he trounced in last year’s elections, foreshadows their return bout, this time for the presidential nomination in 2016.

Both close to President Noynoy Aquino, they belong to opposing camps in the administration’s inner circle. The President keeps them busy and feeling involved by tossing them tasks now and then.

The big question is: Who will their common friend in Malacañang eventually favor in the May 2016 presidential elections to continue the march of the Yellow Army?

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CORY ORIG: Binay happens to be an original Cory warrior, while Roxas is not.

The Vice President holds the distinction of having the highest approval rating (83 percent) among all government officials, besting even President Aquino who scored 74 percent (showing a five-percentage-point drop from three months ago).

Helping boost Binay’s approval rating are his continuing to touch base with his legions in the provinces — something Roxas seems too lazy to do — and his fruitful diplomatic missions for the President.

The other day, he even stuck his neck out by openly pleading with Beijing for another stay in the execution of three Filipino drug mules already set on March 30. He did not have to say anything about trying again, but he did. He might know something we do not know.

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INSIDE TRACK: On the other hand, President Aquino has made Roxas his special troubleshooter, an inside track that gives him a chance to score points. As such, he helped ward off Taiwan’s threat to lay off Filipino workers and block new hires with stringent visa rules.

But credit to Roxas was diluted, because the easing of Taiwan’s requirements was attributed largely to the replacing of the officer-in-charge of the immigration bureau who had been blamed for the bilateral friction over the deportation of 14 Taiwanese to China.

Taiwan was just waiting for something like the relief of the immigration chief as a face-saving excuse for dropping its unfair threat of mass layoffs. It was not ready to cripple its industries by sending home Filipino workers who have shown competence. Nor would Taipei paralyze households, especially of officials, by kicking out their faithful Filipino house help.

President Aquino is often reminded that he owed the presidency — to some extent — to Roxas’ withdrawing his presidential bid in his favor. He feels obligated to help Roxas and the Liberal Party (Binay is not LP) get ahead in vote-rich enclaves.

No wonder President Aquino insists on postponing to 2013 the August elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao - so he could appoint LP executives in place of officials who must go when their terms end this August.

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TAX CASE: Three former officials of the Philcomsat Holdings Corp. are facing tax evasion charges for allegedly failing to report the millions they had received from the PHC, where the government is the biggest beneficial owner.

In a complaint before the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Internal Revenue identified the accused as former PHC chair and director Benito Roman Araneta, and former directors Philip Brodett and Luis Lokin Jr.

Brodett stood out as having earned P625.78 million in 2007 but failed to file his income tax returns. Deputy BIR commissioner Estela Sales said Brodett accumulated from 2003 to 2007 a tax deficiency of P526.61 million.

He filed income tax returns showing an average annual income of only P1.5 million while he allegedly held 29 personal bank accounts including one at Security Bank with P630 million in/out in 2007.

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BANK LENIENT?: As for Lokin, the BIR said he had a tax deficiency of P12.4 million. He allegedly under-declared his income from PHC, reporting that he received only P4.9 million in 2003, P2.1 million in 2004, P5.8 million in 2005, P2.5 million in 2006, and P7.7 million in 2007.

The BIR said that Araneta also failed to declare his PHC compensation, as well as taxable income from other sources. He allegedly under-declared his income by P15.05 million in 2003, P53.2 million in 2004, and P35.8 million in 2005.

The PHC itself has been trying to recover from them the millions taken under allegedly questionable circumstances. They were able to withdraw from the PHC account with the Bank of the Philippine Islands despite the firm’s written alerts and appeals to the bank.

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PHC ‘LOOTING’: The BIR said the tax evasion charges were based on the findings of a Senate inquiry in 2006 on the alleged “looting” of the PHC, aside from documents given by informants and corporate records detailing disbursement.

PHC Director and CFO Lin Bildner said the PHC books showed that Araneta took more than P100 million, including P33 million allegedly used to guarantee a personal loan on the now defunct Bankwise, on which he defaulted.

She said the records showed also that Lokin got over P25 million in “legal fees” although he had no retainer agreement with the PHC.

She said Lokin’s wife Kim Bernardo appealed to President Aquino to spare her husband who was a “mere lawyer” for PHC. Bildner said, however, that Lokin was “also a director and a signatory in the PHC accounts, having issued checks to himself and for unusual payments allegedly, per PHC’s own records, for the Supreme Court.”

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PCGG HAND: From 2004 to 2007, according to Bildner, PHC’s audited financial statements under the old board showed losses and write-offs of P600 million, part of what the present board calls the “looting” of the firm.

From 2003 to 2007, PHC was controlled by the Presidential Commission on Good Government and its nominees Benito Araneta (cousin and business associate of former first gentleman Mike Arroyo), Enrique Locsin, Manuel Andal (who habitually, per PHC records, billed PHC for “legal fees” except that he was not a lawyer), and Julio Jalandoni (father of Deputy Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni who is known as Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez’s right-hand man).

The Ombudsman either dismissed or ignored the 15 graft and corruption complaints filed with it against the PCGG commissioners (Camilo Sabio and Ricardo Abcede) and the nominees who apparently helped themselves to PHC funds.

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