MANILA – Vice President Jejomar Binay’s camp on Wednesday claimed that they know who are behind the “Oplan Stop Nognog 2016” smear campaign aimed at thwarting Binay’s presidential aspirations for the upcoming elections
GMA News TV’s show, “News TV Live” said United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) secretary general, lawyer JV Bautista pinpointed Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Joel Villanueva, and Secretary of the Interior Mar Roxas as among those funding the scheme to tarnish Binay’s reputation.
The lawyer also identified former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, lawyer Renato Bondal and Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV as co-colluders in the plan.
These allegations have been denied by most of those identified by Bautista.
Abad said that such activity is “below the belt” and would not be condoned by the ruling Liberal Party.
Trillianes had already earlier denied any such involvement: “Hindi po tutuo yan (That is not true). I’m not part of any conspiracy. Ang sa akin dito hindi natin kayang lokohin yung taumbayan, sila ay nakakapanood, sila ay nakakarinig ng mga testimonya (In my opinion, we cannot fool the Filipino people, they are watching, they are listening to the testimonies). Hindi natin pwedeng gawin gawin lang ito (We cannot just concoct these issues). Marunong po, matalino yung mga kababayan natin (Our fellow-Filipinos are knowledgeable, they are smart.) . Ang harapin na lang natin yung issue, totoo ba (We should just concern ourselves with the issues, are they true?)? Kailangan nilang sagutin yan (They need to answer these issues),” Trillanes said in a prior interview.
Meanwhile, Malacanang has said that t he President and his Cabinet are busy addressing issues affecting the administration, and that they have not time for the politics of others.