MANILA, Philippines—He may be attempting to do a Barack Obama, but presidential aspirant Jejomar Binay may end up being a John McCain instead, said a ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats official.
Lakas vice president Heherson Alvarez said Binay’s close association with former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada would be a “heavy burden” in his bid to succeed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2010.
US pundits believe Bush was partly responsible for the defeat of his fellow Republican McCain, despite the latter’s trying to distance himself from the vastly unpopular leader during the campaign.
“It can happen easily with Erap on his back. There will be the heavy burden of trying to explain the Erap factor on his back,” Alvarez told reporters in Malacañang.
Binay, the mayor of Makati for 19 years, declared his intention to run for President at a rally to mark his 66th birthday on Tuesday. The comparison with the African-American US President-elect is apparently because of Binay’s dark complexion.
Alvarez said Estrada’s popularity has been tarnished by his conviction for plunder. He said the pardon granted to Estrada by Arroyo didn’t mean that no crime had been committed.
“Obama was a breath of fresh air, Binay is too identified with the status quo,” he said.
Alvarez, the presidential adviser on global warming and climate change, said Lakas was not taking Binay’s presidential bid seriously at this point.
“He has to prove his mettle as a serious contender,” he said.
Alvarez said his party was still in the thick of deliberations for its standard-bearer in 2010. He said a recent discussion on the matter produced nothing.
But he made it clear that discussion have so far centered on the presidential candidate rising “from our own ranks.”
He gave no names, but the Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte and Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have been mentioned before.
-Christian V. Esguerra
--binay has turned Makati around. Makati is beyond compare. I'd choose to live in Makati than anywhere else in metro Manila. Regardless of his acquaintances, he could turn the Philippines around. unlike that parasite Gloria that calls herself the president.--
