(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The worst may not be over for Vice President Jejomar Binay even if recent surveys by two pollsters showed that he is likely to succeed President Benigno Aquino.
Navotas City (Metro Manila) representative Tobias Tiangco, the interim president of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), yesterday said Binay's camp is bracing for more vicious attacks despite the results of the surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia showing that Binay remains the top choice of Filipinos among several presidential candidates in 2016.
"I can't tell if the worst is over. Of course, the goal of the other side is to bring the vice president down, so we expect their attacks to be more vicious," Tiangco told Manila Times in a phone interview.
He said they expect Binay's critics to come out with more allegations when the Senate blue ribbon sub-committee resumes its investigation on January 22, 2015.
"You can expect them to peddle more lies there in the hearing, just like in the previous 12 hearings where they have failed to prove anything. The sad part here is that they are supposed to be after the truth, but they even encourage the witnesses to lie," the lawmaker said.
Former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado had accused Binay of benefiting from the construction of the Makati City Hall Building 2 when the vice president was the then-Makati mayor.
On Monday, the SWS said their survey held from November 27 to December 1 showed that the vice president was the top choice among the possible candidates for president in 2016, with 37% saying he is the best leader to succeed Aquino.
Sen. Grace Poe, the second placer, got 21% while Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas got 19%.A survey conducted by Pulse Asia also showed similar results.
Valenzuela City (Metro Manila) representative Sherwin Gatchalian said Binay's comfortable lead in the surveys is a vindication that the vice president did not do anything wrong.
"Filipinos are convinced that the allegations against the vice president are devoid of truth and politically motivated," Gatchalian, a stalwart of the Nationalist People's Coalition, said. But Binay said his survey ratings would be higher if not for the political attacks against him.
"You know one of the reasons (why our ratings went down although) we still maintained the leadership was the perception that was created by our opponents. It came to a point (that the people realised that the accusations against me) are all lies and are politically motivated, so (the numbers came back to us)," the vice president explained.
Still, Binay admitted that the attacks against him are not over.
He, however, said he will not confront his accusers but will instead find ways to explain the truth to the people.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.