Palace denies involvement in rumors linking Binays to the ‘pork’ scam

Binay Family. Photo courtesy of Balikbayan Magazine.

MANILA — Malacanang rejected on Tuesday accusations that it was behind the spreading of rumors about the Binay family being involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

“We have nothing to do with (those accusations),” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a Palace media briefing.

Coloma raised the issue in reaction to allegations made by Makati City Rep. Abigail Binay who claimed that Malacanang was accusing Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family of involvement in the misuse of public funds.

The Makati lawmaker reportedly said that it was Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II who was possibly spreading the rumors since he was the Vice President’s biggest rival for the 2016 presidential elections.

The PCOO chief denied the congresswoman’s accusations.

Meanwhile, Coloma said he does not see Malacanang conducting an investigation on the matter since they have no foundation for these false claims.

“When you say we will conduct an investigation, it means we have a foundation. We don’t have anything at the moment, so how can we start to have a foundation at least?

” Coloma said.

“At present, the only thing I can say is that we have no information on the matter,” he added.