Dubai: Jejomar Binay is an enigma of Philippine politics.
The 68-year-old lawyer, who grew up an orphan, is often compared to the small David in the biblical story who slew the seemingly invincible Goliath in his many political battles in over two decades
Binay fought the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos by defending key opposition figures and anti-government activists in military and civilian courts during the Martial Law years, which paved the way for his eventual appointment as mayor of Makati, the financial capital of the Philippines, when the anti-Marcos forces led by housewife, Corazon Aquino, was swept to power following the People Power revolution in 1986.
Binay went on to win his own mandate in 1988 and repeatedly thrashed his challengers in five succeeding elections.
As father of the city that was the hotbed of opposition activity in the Marcos years, Binay again found himself leading the pack against the controversy-ridden rule of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A split in the opposition ranks resulted in Binay, titular head of the PDP-Laban party, getting drafted to stand alongside deposed president Joseph Estrada in last year’s national elections where he emerged as the come from behind winner against consistent pre-election survey leader, Manuel “Mar” Roxas, in the vice-presidential derby.
A staunch ally of the late President Corazon Aquino – mother of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino – Binay has continually assured the Philippine leader of his support to his administration.
“As I had promiused in the campaign, I will not be a spare tire. I’ll be a working Vice-President that’s why I’ve always offered my services to the President,” Binay told reporters in a briefing held recently at the United International Private School in Dubai.
The Philippine vice-president arrived in Dubai from Kuwait on Monday night after skipping his scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia and advanced his UAE visit.
His arrival in the region came at the time countries were agog in bringing out their nationals from strife-torn Libya where approximately 26,000 Filipinos were working in the oil and gas and construction industries as well as in health care and household service sectors.
The vice-president, who is also Aquino’s adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) concerns, said he wanted to have a first hand look on how the estimated 600,000 Filipino expatriates are doing in the UAE.
Binay, who was scheduled to meet with UAE officials, was also looking forward to explore bilateral possibilities in the areas of food security and renewable energy by tapping the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.
Excerpts of the interview with the vice-president follow:
Gulf News: What is the purpose of your visit to the region?
Vice-President Binay: Primarily, I went to the GCC because of the invitation extended by a special envoy from Kuwait who went to the Philippines to deliver an invitation to the President for him to attend the 50th anniversary of their foundation. The second celebration was about the 20 years [of liberation from Iraqi occupation in the Gulf War of 1991] and the third was the 5th year of the accession of the emir of Kuwait (Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah). So that was the first part. Since I’m already here, I was requested by the President to take time and visit some countries of the GCC. After all, I am the presidential adviser for OFW affairs so anything about OFWs is part of my job. I’m sure many of you are not aware that Dubai is [the] sister-city [of Makati City]. When I was mayor of Makati City five-six years ago we signed a sister-city relations [agreement] between Makati and Dubai.
Are you saying that your visit here was because of an invitation by Kuwaiti government and not primarily because it’s an offshoot of the crisis in Libya where many migrant workers were affected?
Well it was part and parcel… since I’m already in the region, I was also instructed by the President to monitor what is happening in Libya. Our Secretary of Foreign Affairs [Albert del Rosario] was in Tunisia and with a big heart, he went to Libya. He was able to get inside Libya and they were able to extricate 500 and later on another hundred Filipinos were brought [to safety]. (Update: The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said a total of 9,231 Filipinos have left Libya. Of these, 859 of them have arrived in Manila. The number, however, excluded the eight who arrived on Wednesday night.)
What’s the latest on the Philippine government’s repatriation efforts?
According to Secretary Del Rosario, they had rented four houses in Tunisia because the numbers [of evacuees] are getting bigger. There are frontline officers in the border of Egypt and Libya as well as in Tunisia and Libya. The secretary sought the help of many of our consuls-general and ambassadors. He brought them there because these are the people who have the expertise in this region. From the reports I received, there is a great danger just from leaving Libya. Some towns are OK, some are not. It’s a come and go policy. The travel from Tripoli to the border of Tunisia is rather long…I think its several hundreds of kilometers and you have to face whatever might come along the way but so far the safest (route) is [from] Benghazi going to Alexandria or another town or city of Egypt near the border of Libya.
We’ve been hearing complaints from OFWs on how government mishandled the repatriation process.
What do you mean, by the Libyan government or on our part? We already have lots of people in the field. Many of them are posted there.
An evacuee was saying on TV that they were told by the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli that there will be consular officials to attend to them at the border and yet when they arrived there, there was none to be found.
Hindi naman siguro. Doon, hindi na talaga ako maniniwala. Nandoon na si Secretary Del Rosario. Paano mo sasabihing wala doon? [I don’t think so. I find it hard to believe that claim. Foreign Affairs Secretary Del Rosario is already there, how can these people say that no one’s there to attend to them?] I’m saying, the government team is there. [Foreign Affairs] Undersecretary [Esteban] Conejos is also there. Secretary Del Rosario [drafted] 40 [diplomats] including [Philippine consul-general to Dubai Benito] Valeriano and [Philippine Embassy in the UAE consul-general] Adel Cruz. They’re all there. The full force of our diplomatic mission is there.
With what’s happening on the repatriation process, do you see the need to review our OFW policies
Alam mo, eto kasi krisis na ito e. Hindi naman ito normal situation. Ibang ballgame na ito. Mukhang maraming namamatay dito. Meron namang nagdo-double time. Si Pangulong Noynoy hindi naman nagpapabaya. [You know, this is a crisis situation. This is not a normal situation, it’s a different ballgame. Many people are dying in this situation. There are people in government who are in double-time mode. President Noynoy is not taking things for granted.]
Like what you did in China, are you going to negotiate for the cases of OFWs who are facing death sentences in this region?
When I was In Kuwait I took time to make representations with the government for them to review the cases of several of our countrymen. We are very hopeful . I also visited our POLO [Philippine Overseas Labour Office] and I was able to make arrangements for the immediate travel of 76 Filipinos whom I found in our safe house. I called up Manila right away and they guaranteed their repatriation. We also hope to do the same to some [distressed] OFWs here in the UAE. Basically many of the problem come from those who are undocumented. They left the country after they were influenced by recruiters who are not registered with the government and 80 per cent of our problems are of OFWs who are undocumented. The only time we get to know of their existence is when something bad happens – when they’d have problems with their contracts, when they abscond [or] ran away from their employers, etcetera. There are 600,000 Filipinos here in the UAE. If there are maltreatment cases here, I think these are isolated cases, in fairness to the host country. The problem is negative things get blown up. I suppose 90 per cent of the 600,000 are happy. They’re enjoying their stay here. I wish we’ll harp on the positive.
Are you looking at forging a bilateral agreement that covers household service workers in the UAE?
Yes, I’m sure the government is working on that.
Are you looking at forging a bilateral agreement that covers household service workers in the UAE?
