Evardone to UNA: Are you pro or anti Aquino administration?

Eastern Samar Ben Evardone. CONRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines— Is the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) backing the President’s cause or not, a Liberal Party stalwart wants the competition to make a final stand.

Eastern Samar Ben Evardone on Tuesday called on the Vice President Jejomar Binay-led coalition to stop “straddling two courses” by saying that it is supportive of the administration’s work while attacking some of its programs. “Nasa side ba sila ng administration o opposition? Para malinaw sa botante ang pagpili (Are they on the side of the Aquino administration or the opposition. So that’s it’s clear for the voters who to choose).”

Evardone said that the UNA leadership “owe it to our people” to finally commit to “walk the talk by being 100 percent supportive of the administration or come out of the closet as the supposed opposition.”

So far, UNA has been “bent on positioning its alliance as the opposition, viable alternatives to the LP,” Evardone said.

“UNA cannot have best of both worlds,” he said.

But UNA secretary general and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco maintained that their coalition was “100 % constructive opposition,” which meant that they supported the administration’s good programs but sought to suggest improvements and even criticize projects they deemed ineffective.

“No single person and no single political party has a monopoly of good ideas for our country and its people,” he said in a text message.

“May I know from Cong(ressman) Evardone what he will do if he sees (Aquino) admininstraion programs that he thinks need improvement or programs that will not be good for the people? Or is he saying that all their programs are perfect?” asked Tiangco.