Junjun Binay bares plans to ‘hurt him’ as Makati Mayor Abby bucks ‘reconciliation’
Credit to Author: NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS| Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2019 12:13:44 +0000
FORMER Makati mayor Erwin Jejomar “Junjun” Binay disclosed on Monday that there were some people who were “planning to hurt him,” a day after he and his sister, incumbent local chief executive Abigail “Abby” Binay, were caught on video exchanging heated words inside a church.
“Last year, I was already receiving information that there were people planning to hurt me. They were getting my schedule, there was a person checking on me practically the whole day,” said the younger Binay in a television interview although he refused to bare the person behind the alleged threats.
Binay previously claimed that his supporters have also been receiving “relentless” threats since he announced his bid to return to Makati’s top seat last year.
His late secretary Monette Bernardo was shot last month meters away from her home in Barangay Olympia by still unidentified gunmen aboard a blue motorcycle. She succumbed to fatal abdominal wounds shortly after.
The young Binay wanted the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to declare Makati a poll hotspot since Bernardo’s killing, claiming that his older sister and her husband, 2nd District Rep. Luis Campos, were behind the hit, which the two denied.
Junjun Binay is up against his sister, lawyer and whistleblower Rene Bondal, independent candidate Wilfredo Talag and neophyte Ricky Yabut, son of former city mayor Nemesio Yabut Sr., in the mayoralty race.
Another sister and reelectionist Sen. Nancy Binay immediately came to his defense and said the threats could not be dismissed as people around the incumbent were capable of hurting their brother.
“I’m afraid for him because they might hurt Junjun if altercations continue. I know that my sister (Abby) is not capable of it, but there are people around her who can. I was really fearing for his life,” the senator said in a television interview.
Abby hits back
Mayor Binay, in a statement, said she would never turn her back on her family, but lamented how her siblings would “speak about reconciliation” when they were attacking her and her husband.
“You cannot claim to be nice when you are mean to people, especially to a family member. You cannot claim to be nice when you disrespect the church. This is all a sad effort at damage control and to court sympathy after my brother behaved poorly in church,” she said, saying this was the last time she will be responding to their “false and inaccurate” statements before the press.
The incumbent mayor said that it was time for her brother to “man up,” and to stop dragging their father, former vice president Jejomar Binay into their fight.
“Junjun said he was only a collateral damage from the cases against our father. Stop dragging our father into this issue. Those cases are now in court. If he feels he will be proven innocent, then he should say so,” she said.
Mayor Binay was referring to the case before the Sandiganbayan over irregularities in the construction of the P1.3 billion Makati Science High School building and P2.2-billion Makati City Hall building 2. The former vice president and his son are both respondents in the case.
Junjun Binay, however, saw a possible upturn in his mayoralty bid as the Court of Appeals upheld its previous decision to reverse his dismissal as Makati mayor in 2015 over the alleged irregularities.
Campos’ fault Abby ‘does not belong’
Sen. Binay said she had fixed a deal between her siblings — for Junjun to back out of the elections if her sister’s husband does the same.
The incumbent’s camp agreed but not before 13 of Makati’s 16 councilors expressed support for the former mayor, said Nancy.
The rift between the siblings began when Mayor Binay started dating Campos, the senator said.
“Our personal rift started when she started dating her husband. I’ve said this, what did they fight about last Saturday? It was still him,” she added.
Junjun said their argument started when her sister accused him of linking her husband to the narcotics trade and of drug use.
“When she sat down after her speech, you can see she was very angry. She said ‘you are a liar, you said Luis was doing drugs,’” said Junjun Binay, quoting his sister.
The mayor was quoted as saying: “Let’s ask the Philippine National Police (PNP) to show the data on Makati during his term and my term. Again, let’s ask our Makatizens. Do you feel safer now than three years ago or six years ago?”
Sen. Binay said her family “tried accepting” Campos and was “civil” towards him.
The Camposes, however, stopped speaking to the Binays and have been skipping family lunches since 2016, which made it “harder for us to mend things,” said the senator.
‘Respect for church was due’
The Binay siblings traded barbs during an election forum organized by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) at San Ildefonso Parish.
The former vice president and Makati Police Chief Rogelio Simon, tried to pacify the siblings.
PPCRV Vice Chairman Johnny Cardenas said the Binays should have respected the church instead of making the forum about themselves and causing a scene.
“Before anything else, candidates are briefed that there would be no mudslinging during the forum. No personal attacks because the interest of the faithful is to know them, hear them out and their platforms,” Cardenas said in a radio interview.
“When things got heated between the siblings, it shouldn’t have been that way. We expect that when you are inside a church, you will respect it, and it is weird that they are siblings and they would fight inside a church,” he said.
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