Abby Binay launches senatorial bid

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 1:27 p.m.) — While her last name may not be new to the Senate, Makati City Mayor Abby Binay is one of the newcomers in the race toward the Upper Chamber of Congress. 

Binay filed her certificate of candidacy on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. She is running under the administration slate of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

“Wala sa polyeto ang pruweba ng kanyang kagalingan; nasa lungsod na mahusay niyang pinamamahalaan,” Marcos said when he announced Binay’s senatorial bid on September 26. 

(Proof of her excellence is not in the pamphlets; but in the city that she has wisely governed.)

Binay is running under the party of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, a political party that Marcos’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas recently forged an alliance with. 

After filing her certificate of candidacy at the Manila Hotel, Binay said that many people did not know that she was a lawmaker in the House of Representatives for nine years as the representative of the 2nd District of Makati.

Some of the key legislation she would implement in the Senate would focus on aiding local government, such amending the local government code, and helping local governments get access to climate change funding.

"I think we really have to be more resilient because cyclones and disasters will not go away," Binay said.

The Binay clan has had a foothold in both local and national politics. 

Abby’s sister, Nancy Binay is an outgoing senator. She held no elected post prior to beginning her senatorial stint.  

Abby’s father is former vice president Jejomar Binay, who served under the term of the late president Benigno Aquino Jr. He ran for senator in 2022 but fell short. 

Interestingly, Jejomar was a human rights lawyer during the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the father of the current president. 

During the time of Marcos Sr., Jejomar provided free legal assistance to Martial Law detainees. The Binay patriarch was himself imprisoned, becoming a victim of Martial Law. 

His daughter Abby now runs under the slate of Marcos Sr.’s son.