Manila: Vice-President Jejomar Binay said he had opted out of a private debate with Senator Antonio Trillanes after throwing the challenge in the first place because he did not like to be seen as a seasoned orator up against the underdog.

“Senator Trillanes has said many times that he has been practising all day so that he could face me squarely in a debate that was scheduled by the media for us on November 27. He has tried to appear like an underdog, saying he’s only a soldier while I am a rights lawyer with years of experience in debates. I don’t want to appear like an oppressor in our debate, so I backed out,” Binay told Gulf News in a phone interview.

“I don’t want to be accused of taking advantage of the weakness of an opponent in a debate,” said Binay, who celebrated his 72nd birthday at the Philippine Marines headquarters in suburban Taguig’s Fort Bonifacio.

“My decision is final. I won’t change it,” he said.

Binay did not comment on reports that the debate was meant to put an end to Trillanes’ relentless pursuit of an investigation in the senate into the alleged corrupt practices of the vice-president.

Sources said that Binay had called for a public debate with Trillanes so that he would have a chance to make a legal case against Trillanes were he to make libellous statements outside the senate where he would have no legal immunity.

Binay said the senate has been investigating him for alleged corrupt practices during his term as mayor of Makati City, but insisted there had been no claims for the period he served as vice-president since 2010.

“I will only be impeached for alleged wrongdoings while serving as vice-president,” he said.

Earlier, Binay’s daughter Senator Nancy Binay said in an interview that her father should “not dignify” challenges coming from lawmakers who only grandstand during investigation of alleged malpractices.

Trillanes once led a failed coup plot against former president Gloria Arroyo, by briefly taking over the posh Oakwood apartment hotel in Makati City in 2003. He accused his superiors of allegedly selling guns and ammunition to rebels.

In 2007, Trillanes and several right wing coup plotters walked out during a hearing at a lower court in Makati City, marched towards Peninsula Hotel on Ayala Avenue and stayed there for several days, calling for former president Arroyo and military leaders to step down. He did not succeed in unseating Arroyo.

Trillanes was also elected senator in 2007. But he remained in prison until President Benigno Aquino granted him amnesty when the latter was elected president in 2010.

In comparison, Binay, a law graduate from the premier University of the Philippines, made a name as a seasoned rights lawyer who fought former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s.

When a civilian-backed military mutiny paved the way for the ouster of Marcos and Corazon Aquino’s rise to the presidency in 1986, Binay became an ally and was appointed as acting mayor of Makati City.

Since then, Binay morphed into a seasoned politician and built his own political dynasty with several family members holding elected government posts.

Binay remains a top ranking presidential contender in 2016, in comparison with other presidential aspirants, despite his popularity rating getting lower due to investigations of his alleged corrupt practices while he served as mayor of Makati City.

Binay became vice-president when ran he ran with the opposition party led by former president Joseph Estrada who lost the presidential race to President Aquino in 2010.

Sources said that the Aquino family and Binay have formed “deeper secret political alliances that date back in 1986”.