Straight from the horse’s mouth – he was born on Nov. 11, in the Year of the Horse, 1942 – Jojo Binay will pull out of the race the moment Joseph Estrada announces his bid for the presidency.

No ifs and buts about it, he told journalists (only two of whom are his constituents) gathered in the conference room on the 24th floor of Makati’s P4-billion City Hall. In the rain and through the glass panes, the lights of the city shone with a misty glow, in stark contrast to the Mandaluyong side, wet and dim.

The city of Makati, with a daytime population of 4 million and only 600,000 at night (and a car population of 300,000, or one car for every two residents), earned P10.6 billion last year and spent it all, making good its claim that if life is so good here, so should it be for the rest of the country.

Then why give up the mayor’s cushy office and settle for Malacañang? “Because, you’ve heard of OJT, on the job training? I’m the most senior local executive and I will be ready to work on the first day I move in.”

That is, if Erap doesn’t preempt his aspirations. The former president has made clear his intention to run (again) unless the opposition unites, but then Mayor Binay wants to know, “Who’s the opposition?” when, clearly, some wannabes have been playing footsie-wootsie with the administration.

Supposing Erap doesn’t go through with his plan; supposing Jejomar Binay’s dream comes true. How does he turn the Philippines into a big Makati, as his TV ads suggest? “In theory, only in theory,” he’s got it figured out. By dividing the income of Makati by the number of its residents, he arrives at the quotient of P17,000. That formula produces the same result when the income of the national government is divided by the national population: P17,000. In other words, it’s doable, there’s no magic involved.

The magic will come when his supporters cough up more cash than his and their projections.

They will produce only enough for the 90 days of the campaign period, he said, and no further. Magical thinking.