Binay confident of victory

MANILA, Philippines - Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay is confident of winning the vice presidential race, saying his lead of 700,000 votes against his closest rival Sen. Manuel Roxas II could only be overcome through “electoral fraud.”

“In almost all regions, I won, especially in the NCR (National Capital Region) by more than 600,000 votes, excluding the votes from Malabon that are not yet counted. I think I won in 14 out of the 17 regions,” Binay said.

As of 1:39 p.m. yesterday, Binay had garnered 13,274,470 votes against Roxas’ 12,481,973, based on returns from 88.64 percent of over 76,000 polling precincts, according to the unofficial tally of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).

Partial unofficial results from 12 local absentee voting precincts also showed Binay got 3,329 votes compared to the 809 of Roxas, according to Betty Pizana, chair of the Comelec committee on local absentee voting.

Binay said he is leading in the vice-presidential race partly because of the endorsement of Sen. Francis Escudero, his being Estrada’s running mate, his closeness with Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III, the help from his brothers and sisters in the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity and his experience as chief executive of Makati.

Binay said the six million to seven million senior citizens nationwide voted for him.

“I am a senior citizen myself, and I can talk in the language of senior citizens, including the Persons With Disabilities.”

Binay group claims ‘special operations’

Members of Roxas’s “inner circle” are in Mindanao to allegedly manipulate votes in Mindanao and in Western and Central Visayas to give the LP vice-presidential candidate a lead of 100,000 votes, according to Binay’s spokesman Lito Anzures.

Anzures said they received reports from their leaders in Bacolod and Negros Occidental that former defense secretary Avelino “Nonong” Cruz, a member of Roxas’s inner circle, were among those sighted in Mindanao. Cruz could not be reached for comment.

Anzures said a team of lawyers is also allegedly trying to manipulate the canvassing of election returns in Western and Central Visayas to overhaul the lead of Binay.

Anzures said when Binay’s leaders left the Bacolod provincial canvassing center, Roxas’s votes suddenly increased by 100,000.

“How can it happen when only 40,000 votes are not yet counted,” he said.

Anzures said teachers were ordered to alter the results of the vote in Bacolod. “We will produce these witnesses at the proper time, “ he said.

Anzures said the five million votes that have yet to be counted are spread in various areas nationwide and are not confined in the perceived bailiwick of Roxas.

However, Franklin Drilon, LP national chairman, said the Binay camp was engaging in propaganda and mind-conditioning that he was cheated if he would lose.

Drilon said Cruz, who is helping in LP’s Bantay Balota, never went to Mindanao, and that many from the party could attest to it.

Drilon said the Binay camp might have “done their own math” and “they are now very, very worried that they could lose.

“And the best way for them to discredit any possible surge from us is to throw wild and outrageous accusations of so-called ‘special operations’ in Mindanao,” he said.

“Their allegations serve as a smokescreen to their own operations. Remember, it is the PDP-Laban which has always operated in Mindanao, and is known to be the principal operation that can deliver block votes from the area.”

Figures from different areas in Regions Western, Central and Eastern Visayas showed Roxas could win “although admittedly slim,” Drilon said.

LP to Comelec: Release 100 percent tally

The LP called on the Comelec yesterday to release 100 percent of the tally of votes to quell speculations of cheating.

Drilon said the Comelec count stopped at 78 percent and the remaining 22 percent would constitute up to seven million more votes.

“We recognize that we cannot compel them to continue up to a hundred percent. They can of course assert that it is not their duty to proclaim the president and vice president as this belongs to Congress.”

However, Drilon said the Comelec should not wait for the remaining 22 percent to be transmitted to the server of Congress, where canvassing would be done, so as not to leave the people wondering who really won.

“We must remember that Congress convenes on May 31 yet, and therefore everybody will be kept hanging between now and maybe the middle of June, that’s about a month away,” he said.

Negrenses hope for Roxas win

Negrenses are optimistic that their votes will be enough to give Roxas the needed boost and regain his footing in the vice-presidential race.

Former Negros Occidental governor Daniel Lacson, who heads the Negros for Noy-Mar campaign, said the province will definitely deliver votes for Roxas, as it did for Aquino. 

However, the Makati Business Club believes Roxas has a slim chance of winning.

Speaking to reporters, MBC executive director Alberto Lim said mathematically it is still possible for Roxas to win, but that statistically there is “a very slim chance” that he will defeat Binay.

“It depends on the provinces that were not counted yet,” he said.

Binay: I will meet with De Castro

Binay will meet with outgoing Vice President Noli de Castro, former President Estrada and other former vice presidents to get tips on how to be an effective vice president.

Binay said he would also meet with De Castro for a smooth transition of the Office of the Vice President.

Binay said as vice president, he would prioritize the realization of the new law that gives 20 percent, non-taxable, discounts for senior citizens purchasing basic commodities and other expenses.

 “We must practice good governance. Makati has been progressive because all the barangays in the city are progressive.

“I believed that I can do this in the entire country by improving all the local government units.”

Binay said progressive local governments would result to a progressive national government.

Jinggoy: Erap happy for Binay

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said his father is very glad that Binay is doing well in the vice-presidential race.

Jinggoy also defended his father over allegations that he did not vote for Binay in Monday’s elections.

“It is impossible for my father not to vote for Mayor Binay,” he said.

“My father repeatedly read the ballot three times and filled the oval for Mayor Binay and the rest of the candidates of the PMP,” he said.

Binay also believes that Estrada voted for him.

 “President Estrada told me that he repeatedly read the ballot and he shaded my name.”

Jinggoy said cameramen who took footage of his father’s ballot and the photographers who took pictures of it have violated the Omnibus Election Code.

“We have to protect the secrecy of the ballot, the sanctity of our ballot. We can file charges against the cameramen who took footage of the ballot of my father and the photographers who took pictures of my father.”

Binay also agreed that the cameramen and photographers who took footage and photographs of Estrada’s ballot have violated the Omnibus Election Code. —With Aurea Calica, Antonieta Lopez, Eliza Osorio