A stalwart of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC) said today the Filipino people, not the Senate, will be the ultimate judge whether Vice President Jejomar Binay deserves to be the next president of the Republic.

NPC Congressman Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian made the statement in the wake of a Social Weather Station Survey (SWS) showing 79 percent of respondents want Binay to face the Senate and address allegations of corruption against him when he was mayor of Makati City.

The SWS survey on Sept. 26 to 29 released Monday showed 79 percent of 1,200 Filipinos polled thought Binay should appear in the Senate inquiry.

“It would do well for VP Binay to go directly to the people to explain his side since the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee has already prejudged him based on how witnesses against the vice president were given the latitude to hurl their accusations, whether unfounded or not,” said Gatchalian, who represents Valenzuela’s 1st district.

Gatchalian said going to the Senate to attend the inquiry is like going to a “lions’ den” where the VP is likely to be devoured alive like what happened to the early Christians who were fed to the lion’s for refusing to say what the pagan Romans want to hear.

“The Senate should respect the VP Binay’s decision not to attend the scheduled October 30 hearing. The Office of the Vice President, after all deserves courtesy from a co-equal branch of government,” said Gatchalian.

Gatchalian said surveys by both the SWS and Pulse Asia continue to show that at least 31 percent of Filipinos still trust VP Binay and will most likely vote for him if elections are held today.

“The Filipino people will be the ultimate judge on whether VP Binay deserves to be president and the ultimate survey on who will be president will be made by Filipino voters in the 2016 elections,” said Gatchalian. (Monica Cantilero)