‘For 5 years, you applauded what you now consider inept’

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay was party to the supposed ineptness and insensitivity of the Aquino administration if his own version of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) is to be believed, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said yesterday.

“Limang taon kang pumapa-lakpak noon sa mga sinasabi mong palpak ngayon (For five years you were applauding what you now consider inept),” Lacierda said in reaction to Binay’s speech.

Shortly before Binay’s speech, the President had wished Binay would tell the truth.

“I stand by what we said… One would hope that he would honor his pledge to serve the people and part of that is giving them the right information,” the President said in a chance interview during the 111th anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue yesterday.

“We are in a democracy. Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion. So long as they conform to the rules and the laws of the land, they are free to speak their mind,” the President said.

Aquino said the data and figures he mentioned during his last SONA could be verified from concerned agencies, adding that only those who would engage in nitpicking would find his speech wanting.

The President refused to give any unsolicited advice to Binay, who is several years his senior.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said he did not listen to Binay’s speech.

“I hope he was as uplifting as P-Noy was. I hope he inspired hope in the future. If not, I’m lucky then to have used my time with work,” Abad said.

Hope

The President said even ordinary citizens recognize the efforts of his administration.

He cited the article written by Sergio Gabriel, a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University whose photo as a volunteer helping during a disaster was flashed during the last SONA, which came out on the social news network Rappler.

“So long as that hope exists in our people, I will always be more than willing to carry bottles of water under the rain for it – because that’s exactly what this country needs: people to hope, and people to act on it. Thank you very much, President Noy,” Gabriel’s article titled Dear P-Noy stated.

Gabriel talked about the attention he received by phone and through social media after his photo was shown during the President’s SONA. He said he was happy that many members of the so-called “millennial” generation watched the SONA.

“We take selfies, but we also give our take on who should and shouldn’t run for the presidency in 2016. Yes, we share posts from 9-Gag and BuzzFeed, but we share our frustrations and joys also with the links of local and international news articles,” Gabriel wrote. “We always express our disgust and intolerance for anything closely related to corruption and discrimination involving gender, sexuality and religion.

“At a time when people think there is no hope for our country, I am reminded not to believe that, because I’ve seen that hope first-hand; and it’s rooted in its people, the Filipino people,” he said.

“In your speech you thanked my generation for helping contribute to the progress of this country. I hope I can speak for most of the millennial generation when I say we are honored to share the responsibility of building this country with you,” he added.

Heartwarming

Aquino said he was aware of an organized campaign to pull him down, along with his officials, and getting a positive feedback from an ordinary citizen could be “a great source of joy and inspiration.”

He said Gabriel’s article, a copy of which was shown to him by one his sisters, is “heartwarming.”

Aquino said he foresees a good future for the country given the assurance from the youth that they would play a role in nation building.

He expressed hope that the people would never lose the spirit of hope and concern for others.

Aquino admitted it was surprising for him to read praises about him and his administration, but is grateful for them.

Not the right person

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said Binay is not the right person to throw accusations of corruption against the administration because he is also facing charges for corruption.  

“He has the temerity to talk about the true state of the nation, but what about his assets and liabilities? The challenge to him is to bring out his true SALN,” Cayetano said.

During the hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee on corruption allegations against Binay, it was alleged that he owns various real properties and bank accounts, which were not contained in his SALN.

“I think the Vice President should look at the mirror and the question he should answer is: if he is against corruption, then why won’t he allow himself to be investigated and why won’t he release his true SALN?” Cayetano said. “He has no credibility against corruption.”

“He just repeated all of these and so what he delivered was not a SONA but a replay,” he added.

Cayetano said Binay did not offer solutions to the problems he cited in his speech.

Beauty of democracy

“That’s the beauty of democracy, we all have the right to speak but there’s no truth to what he (Binay) said,” Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said.

Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte Jr. said Binay’s tirades were just part of politics after he failed to get the endorsement of the President for the 2016 presidential elections.

“He has no choice but to hit (the administration),” he said.        

Youth Against Corruption and Poverty party-list Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez, a close friend of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, said Binay should have aired his criticisms when he was still in the Cabinet. 

Navotas City Rep. Tobias Tiangco, president of Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance, said he is leaving it up to the people to decide which was credible as they heard both SONAs. – With Aurea Calica, Marvin Sy, Paolo Romero