Binay: Photos leaked due to rise in ratings

MANILA, Philippines - Vice presidential candidate Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay said photographs of himself with his alleged mistress were released on the Internet as a result of the surge in his survey ratings.

Binay, running mate of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) presidential candidate former President Joseph Estrada, admitted to past indiscretions.

In an interview early last month with editors and reporters of The STAR, Binay sidestepped questions on his infidelity as a husband, but said he had adopted a child.

In a press conference in Pampanga yesterday, Binay admitted that he had an extramarital affair, describing the leak of his photos with his alleged mistress as part of the “black propaganda” against him after his ratings surged in the latest survey.

Binay said that the affair almost cost him his marriage to Dra. Elenita Binay.

“That happened a long time ago. I’m just a human being capable of committing mistakes. I asked for forgiveness from my wife and family and they have forgiven me,” Binay said.

Reporters asked Binay about pictures circulating in the Internet, including the popular social networking site Facebook, of the mayor and a fair woman seemingly on vacation.

Binay said his detractors might have circulated the photos as part of a black propaganda to destroy him as his survey ratings were on the rise.

Binay’s son, Makati Councilor Junjun Binay who is running for mayor of Makati, said the issue is politically motivated.

Joey Salgado, chief of Makati’s Information and Community Relations Division (ICRD), quoted the younger Binay as saying that his mother had long forgiven his father.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, Binay overtook Nacionalista Party (NP) vice presidential bet Sen. Loren Legarda.

Front-runner Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential bet Sen. Mar Roxas is only nine percentage points ahead of Binay.

Junjun Binay said his father’s extramarital affair made their family even stronger.

“That is all in the past. And we have been strengthened by it. The family who (encounter) this situation, either become broken or stronger,” the younger Binay said in statement sent to The STAR.

Binay said his father’s detractors may be the authors of the picture spread through the Internet and they are trying to capitalize on Mayor Binay’s past.

“The people who will do that are those who are playing righteous and pretending to be clean and those who are nervous that my father’s rating is surging,” the younger Binay added.

Estrada and Binay led a motorcade yesterday through San Fernando, Bacolor, Guagua, and Lubao in Pampanga and later in Balanga, Bataan.