Jojo Binay vs Edu Manzano in Makati

A full month before the 2001 election officially starts, the two main candidates for the prime slot of mayor of Makati City have started throwing barbs at each other.

One particular area of contention is the supposed offering of a huge sum of money from the camp of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Binay to incumbent Vice Mayor Edu Manzano.

Manzano claimed that he was offered money by someone allegedly from the camp of Binay to join their party in the upcoming May elections.

Rumors floated around that an estimated P50 million was offered to Manzano to drop out of the race for mayor and support the campaign of Binay.

The vice mayor refused to confirm the actual amount offered to him, saying only that "it was enough to make him and his family live comfortably for a long time."

Binay, for his part, reacted by saying that it was Manzano who tried to get into the PDP-Laban slate to run as its official candidate.

According to Binay, the incumbent vice mayor of Makati approached several members of his party to look for a way to join the PDP-Laban ticket.

However, Binay explained that it was not possible to accommodate Manzano as the congressional ticket had already been guaranteed for journalist and Today newspaper editor Teodoro Locsin.

Locsin was sworn into the PDP-Laban party last year as its official candidate for the congressional representative of Makati City.

Binay argued that the choice of Locsin was clear because he believed the successor of incumbent Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo should be equal to the stature of the outgoing representative.

Manzano is reportedly dead set on running for mayor of the city under the Lakas party alongside Councilor Robert Dean Barbers as his vice mayor. – Marvin Sy