EDITORIAL - Aquino gauntlet for Binay more damaging than Senate probe

When President Aquino said Vice President Binay was free to leave the Cabinet, he did not exactly fire him. But he was not just giving a hint, either. If Binay had any sense of delicadeza, he should promptly resign his Cabinet position as housing and OFW adviser. Sticking it out despite the clarity of the message given by the president will do more harm than good to his political and public standing, or whatever is left of it.

Binay has made it no secret that he aspires to become the next president of the country. But he has been in the swirl of corruption allegations for months now. And while the surveys say he remains on top among government officials trusted by the people, and is still way ahead of those similarly aspiring to become president, his numbers have started to drop in the latest polls.

Binay has continued to resist a Senate investigation, and rightly so. The Senate investigation is not the proper forum to determine his guilt or innocence in these accusations. This is not to say, though, that he cannot be damaged by the Senate hearings, regardless of whether he appears in them or not. But the political motivation behind the hearings has not damaged Binay as extensively as many would have wanted.

And that is because the political motivation behind the Senate investigation is so brazen and apparent that it is also backfiring on those who are conducting it. Those who are leading the charge against Binay in the Senate cannot escape the consequences of their actions because they have unmasked themselves by their own actions. In other words, what damage they had sought to inflict on Binay has been tempered by the damage to their own persons.

What is happening in the Senate investigation of Binay is not unlike the self-limiting diseases, such as dengue, that strike human beings. As self-limiting diseases, it becomes a fight between the dengue virus and the victim. It becomes a matter of who goes first, the virus or the victim. Dengue survivors, and there are many of them, eventually proved stronger by outlasting the virus.

It is the same here. It is a matter of who will eventually prove stronger -- Binay or his accusers. One of them will eventually have to give, or more precisely one of them will have to eventually see his political ambitions go pffft. In the end, the political ambitions of Binay and his accusers will be settled long before the actual election in 2016 swings around. It is an eventuality worth waiting for.

It is different, however, with the gauntlet Aquino has just thrown. By saying Binay is free to leave, in the wake of his recent attacks against the Aquino administration, the president has placed Binay on the spot. How Binay takes up this challenge has a far more serious consequence on his person and his plans than the Senate investigation. The Aquino challenge can prove more damaging to Binay than the current circus at the Senate. Suddenly, Binay has a very weak point exposed.