BY ASHZEL HACHERO

MAKATI Mayor and United Opposition (UNO) president Jejomar Binay announced his intention to run for president in 2010 on his 66th birthday yesterday.

Binay said his candidacy is "a grand, all-or-nothing plan to rescue our orphaned Republic."

"There is a need for a ‘voters’ revolution’ to save ‘an orphan country from a ‘step-president,’" he told supporters at the City Hall Quadrangle after a thanksgiving mass.

He said a "voters’ revolution" will install a government that will restore the people’s dignity, give priority to health care and education, look after the elderly, and promote transparency and accountability in government.

"Four years ago, our beloved Philippines was orphaned by fraud. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, under the most dubious electoral conditions, ascended to the presidency. And the nightmare of the step-president and the orphan nation began," Binay said.

His supporters came with placards "Binay for President, Binay the Philippines Obama," referring to US President-elect Barack Obama.

Binay said under the Arroyo government, more Filipinos have become poor and hungry, government funds are raided by Palace allies, and natural resources are surrendered to foreign powers and private interests.

Binay said leaders of people’s organizations urged him to run for president.

Binay said he has never rejected any challenge in his life, citing his appointment in February 1986 as officer-in-charge of Makati by former President Corazon Aquino.

"Sa araw na ito, kaarawan ko pa man din, muli kong inaalay at ipinauubaya ang aking sarili sa ating mga kababayan, at tinatanggap ang inyong hamon na pamunuan ko ang ating himagsikan tungo sa isang maunlad at iginagalang na Pilipinas," he said.

Binay said Arroyo will leave behind escalated hostilities in Mindanao, a rebel group indisposed to peace talks, and agreements with other countries and foreign corporations that infringe on sovereignty.

He said Arroyo will leave behind an economy "that has improved on the charts of the National Economic Development Authority, but has deteriorated on the dining tables of our people."

"Mrs. Arroyo will leave behind a Justice department that prosecutes the witnesses rather than the perpetrators of graft; a Department of Local Government that persecutes local officials who dare denounce the abuses of her administration; a Defense Department that sends our soldiers to war with defective arms and ammunition," he said.

The Foreign Affairs department, he said, "endorses an agreement that practically surrenders territory to a rebel group" while the Budget Department "disburses public funds as if they were (Mrs. Arroyo’s) personal kitty."

He also said the Finance Department has grown "so incompetent it loses three times more to smugglers than what it collects from the VAT that has continued to burden our people – or perhaps a finance department so impotent because the smuggling is perpetrated by the high authorities."

"Through incompetence and graft, our Department of Agriculture has squandered productivity funds for our farmers and relies rather on imports in support of foreign farm producers instead," he said.

President Joseph Estrada said Binay’s performance as Makati mayor indicates he has the capacity to run the country.