By Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 11/26/2012 5:15 PM | Updated as of 11/27/2012 8:23 AM
MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago used plenary deliberations on the proposed 2013 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to berate Vice President Jejomar Binay for his statement against moves to craft a law banning political dynasties.
Early this month, Binay was quoted as saying that qualified candidates should not be prohibited from seeking public office just because their relatives are in politics.
Binay's son, Junjun, is the mayor of Makati City, and his daughter Nancy is running for senator.
Santiago, who authored an anti-dynasty bill that is currently pending at the committee level in the Senate, disagreed with Binay. She stressed that the Constitution prohibits political dynasties.
Even without an enabling law yet from Congress, she said politicians must not let their relatives run for office.
"Even if it's legal to establish a dynasty, I warn you, not all that is legal is moral," she said during the OVP's budget deliberations on Monday, raising her voice.
Binay was not present during the deliberations.
Santiago also hit Binay's statement that anti-political dynasty bills are "only being pushed by people who are perennial losers" in elections.
She recalled losing the 1992 polls to former President Fidel Ramos, which she said was marred by fraud.
"I won in the voting but I lost in the counting," she said. "Hanggang mamatay ako, 'yan ang tatayuan ko."
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