By PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA — Vice President Jejomar Binay won’t be bullied if he decides to appear before the Senate investigation on the Makati parking building today.
“I can assure the vice president that he will be treated well,” said Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.
Cayetano said he wants to hear from Binay why the construction of the so-called parking building cost close to P3 billion.
Should Binay fail to attend Tuesday’s hearing, it will prove that the alleged overpriced building is indeed a “world-class palusot,” he said.
Cayetano urged the public to do an ocular inspection of the Makati building to assess whether or not it is worth its construction cost.
“I think an ocular inspection would be good because we’ve been dealing with pictures from the outside pero hindi natin nakikita ’yong building talaga,” said the senator from Taguig.
But even before the Senate inquiry could start, Makati City’s Rep. Mar-Len Abigail Binay already accused Cayetano of bullying her family to gain publicity in preparation for his presidential bid.
“By bullying the vice president and his family, Senator Cayetano hopes to attract a lot of attention and generate loads of free publicity for himself. This is why he is targeting us,” Representative Binay said in a statement.
She said Cayetano is targeting her father because the latter is doing well in poll surveys.
Vice President Binay topped a Pulse Asia survey in March, with 40 percent, or 4 out of 10 respondents, saying they would vote for him if presidential elections were held today.
Cayetano, on the other hand, shared the seventh spot with presidential sister Kris Aquino, with four percent.
“The senator knows that he will get scarce media hype if he quarrels with other potential targets,” Representative Binay said. “So he is now on hard-sell mode — forcefully trying to promote himself at the expense of the vice president and his family, which is downright uncalled for.”
“We wish the senator could just promote himself through positive public relations — by conveying to everybody all his accomplishments for the country. To be able to climb up, people do not have to put other people down,” she said.
The Cayetano family is a fierce political rival of the Binays. Cayetano and Binay strongholds, Taguig and Makati cities, respectively, are battling for the control of financially lucrative Fort Bonifacio.
During a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing last week, Cayetano grilled Makati City’s Mayor Junjun Binay, the representative’s brother, over the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II.
Representative Binay alleged that Cayetano has been telling his staffers that he wants to quadruple his voter support and get at least 15 percent of the votes by next year or he will drop out of the presidential race.
She also claimed that Cayetano has been meeting with some House members, including those representing non-aligned party-list groups, to gather support for his presidential bid. (With reports from abs-cbnnews.com/PN)
