SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union—Beleaguered Vice President Jejomar Binay told local officials and residents here that his political rival, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, was behind his troubles at the Senate and before the Ombudsman, which are both investigating allegations of corruption against him.
Secretary Mar Roxas is persecuting him during a dialog with local
officials Sunday at the Pacoy Ortega Gym in San Fernando City,
La Union. Christine Junio
“My only mistake is that I declared to run for president in 2016 too early,” Binay told media at the Ortega Sports Complex, after meeting with San Fernando City Mayor Pablo Ortega, La Union Rep. Eufranio Eriguel and his wife, Agoo Mayor Sandra Eriguel, Luna Mayor Vic Marron, and other residents.
“I thought politics was clean, but it isn’t,” he said.
Binay denied the accusations against him, and said that when he was mayor, Makati became one of the country’s most progressive cities, a record of governance that qualifies him to be the next president.
“Mar Roxas is behind the investigations at the Senate and the Ombudsman,” he said.
Roxas ran for vice president in 2010 but lost to Binay.
The Ombudsman has ordered the Vice President’s son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., suspended over the same graft allegations, but he has been holed up in the city hall in defiance of the order.
He, too, has blamed Roxas for what the Binays say is state persecution of their family.
The Vice President was set to go to Baguio City today with Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian and Mitos Magsaysay, who are reportedly running for the Senate in 2016.