The camp of leading vice presidential contender Jejomar C. Binay described the print advertisement of his rival for the post, Liberal Party bet Sen. Manuel Roxas, as “less than truthful” as it failed to show that Binay won in 66 of the country’s 81 provinces in the May 10 polls.

The Binay camp said the ad, which appeared in several newspapers Friday, copied the format of the Binay ad, which showed the United Opposition bet winning in 14 out of 17 regions.

“We don’t really mind if they copied the ad, but they should have been more truthful in presenting the provincial results,” Binay spokesman Lito Anzures claimed.

He also claimed that the ad included Roxas votes from cities, thus “bloating” the figures.

“I thought the Roxas camp had said we should all wait for the results of the canvass. But here they are again, misleading the public,” he said.

Anzures said the Roxas camp failed to say that the votes from their bailiwick, which they claim would swing the tide in their favor, account for only less than 20 percent of the total number of votes cast.

“Except for Western Visayas and Central Visayas, Roxas did not lead Binay by large margins in the provinces that he claims to have won,” he claimed.

Still, he said they are glad that the Roxas camp has tempered its enthusiasm by avoiding any outright claim that their candidate will win the vice presidency.

From earlier claims of Roxas winning by as much as 400,000 to a “hairline,” Anzures said LP officials are now saying that they cannot honestly say who will win the canvass.

Binay has been leading over Roxas in all the exit polls and the unofficial canvass and has consistently maintained his lead.

The Pulse Asia-ABS CBN exit poll said Binay will win by 5 percent, while SWS-TV 5 showed a win of 2.4 percent for the opposition leader. A parallel count conducted by ABS-CBN with STI also showed a clear win for Binay.

UP professor Lenny De Jesus, former chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) cited the accurate exit polls conducted by SWS and Pulse Asia that are consistent with the trend of the election results from the Comelec and PPCRV.

De Jesus said only “external maneuvering or manipulation” can alter the results.

“From the academician’s point of view, with 90 percent of the total votes cast already counted, the lead of Mayor Binay will not change unless external maneuvering or manipulations out of the ordinary happen,” De Jesus pointed out.