Binay mulls legal action vs detractors

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay yesterday warned he would not take the accusations against him sitting down, hinting at the possibility of taking legal action against his detractors.

“My lawyers are still studying it. We cannot take it sitting down. They are already embarrassing,” he said.

Referred to one of his accusers, former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, Binay said Mercado cannot be placed under the Witness Protection Program, saying the former local official “will just lie to become a state witness.”

According to Binay, Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice is part of “Oplan Nognog,” the move hatched by supporters of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II to discredit him.

Binay’s United Nationalists Alliance (UNA) also tried to turn the tables on Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a member of the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee investigating the allegations against the Vice President.

JV Bautista of UNA said Trillanes owns a fleet of luxury vehicles that were not reflected in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

“Senator Trillanes styles himself as a moral crusader, but all these years he has evaded the issue of how he was able to afford eight luxury vehicles with his salary in the military and why he did not declare them in his SALN. This is a clear violation of the law,” Bautista said.

He said Trillanes is playing clean and consistently attacked Binay.

Trillanes, for his part, slammed UNA for the allegations. – With Christina Mendez