MANILA, Philippines - The secretary-general of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) claimed on Monday that the demolition job against Vice President Jejomar Binay is orchestrated by Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
Speaking to ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), lawyer JV Bautista said Roxas is leading the so-called "Oplan SN16" which means "Stop Nognog 2016," alluding to Binay and his 2016 presidential bid. Bautista claimed that "operatives" in the Liberal Party use "Nognog" when they speak of Binay.
"These things that we are hearing in the [Senate Blue Ribbon] Sub-comittee [hearing], these are all part of a conspiracy. This is a well-funded, well-financed, well-organized conspiracy, the principal aim of which is to destroy the chances of Vice Pesident Binay to become the next president in 2016," Bautista told program host Karen Davila.
"This conspiracy goes all the way up only to Mar Roxas," Bautista also said, adding that President Benigno Aquino III may not know the alleged plot against Binay.
Bautista said the conspiracy is funded by one of Roxas' principal financiers, businessman Buddy Zamora together with his partner Eric Gutierrez.
Bautista presented the supposed flight plan of the helicopter that captured photos and videos of the alleged Hacienda Binay in Rosario town, Batangas. He said the helicopter is owned by Zamora and Gutierrez, who is also a business partner of Rep. Edgar Erice, a Liberal Party member.
"Buddy Zamora is the one spending for all of these (conspiracy)," Bautista said.
"We have long suspected that Mar Roxas is behind this demolition job. But now, we have something more solid to hold on to, this flight plan," he added.
Bautista further alleged that Roxas is conspiring with Sen. Alan Cayetano, one of the senators conducting the Senate Blue Ribbon Sub-committee investigation of the Makati City Hall II parking building which dug up corruption allegations against Binay.
According to the flight plan that Bautista presented, a certain Dexter Estacio was among the passengers of the helicopter that went to the alleged Hacienda Binay.
"He works in the Taguig City Hall. He is a graphic artist of Alan Peter Cayetano... He was probably the one who was making all of these graphic illustrations (of the Batangas property)," Bautista said of Estacio.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The target of these people is to try to destroy the chances of the Vice President to become the next President in 2016. So what they are doing is they are cooperating. This is something tactical," Bautista said of Roxas and Cayetano.
Philstar.com tried to get a comment from Roxas' media relations officer, Babes Suva, but has not received any response as of posting time.
Meanwhile, Cayetano's ally, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, criticized Bautista for coming up with an "absurd conspiracy theory" instead of showing documents proving that Binay does not own the Batangas property.
"If only he would listen to the absurdity he just said in the past 30 minutes, he would certainly be surprised himself," Trillanes said in a phone-patch interview on ANC.
The senator also claimed that he never heard of the codename "Oplan SN2016."
Both Binay and Cayetano have declared their intentions to seek the presidency in 2016. Roxas, meanwhile, remains the presumptive standard-bearer of the LP.
Despite the recent decline in his ratings, Binay is still the front-runner in the presidential surveys while Roxas comes in far second.
Binay, who ran under the UNA in 2010 elections, defeated Roxas in the vice presidential race.