UNA chides Liberal Party on ‘color branding’

MANILA— Are they calling the Vice President black?

There was nothing gray about the United Nationalist Alliance’s potshots at the Liberal Party yesterday.

It questioned the ruling party’s reference to the upcoming elections as a battle of “black and white,” saying the allusion could be directed at Vice President Jejomar Binay’s far from fair skin color.

“It’s okay if we are not fair (skin tone), if they are now basing it on the color of the skin because the Vice President is dark, and if that’s why they’re saying it’s now a black-and-white battle,” said UNA Secretary General Toby Tiangco in a statement.

“But we again appeal to the LP to go beyond the innuendoes about skin color and to stop pitting the Vice President against the President,” he added.

The coalition, led by Binay, deposed President Joseph Estrada and embattled Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, also took a swipe at the administration coalition’s “confused color branding” in reaction to to earlier statements of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Abaya, the acting LP president.

Tiangco’s comments were a response to Abaya’s statements over the weekend saying the LP would draw a clear line “between black and white” in May’s electoral contest.

In his statements, Abaya was talking about making a distinction between the two coalitions, anchored on President Benigno Aquino III’s “daang matuwid” (straight path) governance brand.

Racial slur

Tiangco went as far as calling Abaya’s comments “a racial slur” as he asked the ruling party to “raise the level of political discourse” ahead of the May elections.

“As member of the Cabinet, Abaya should have been more circumspect about making loose remarks that may be seen as a racial slur,” Tiangco said.

Asked for the Vice President’s comment, Binay’s spokesperson Joey Salgado said the official was not concerned by comments about his skin color.

This is not the first time Binay’s skin tone figured in political discourse ahead of an election.

in 2009, upon the election of United States Barack Obama, jokes circulated that Binay may well become the Philippines’ first black President.   Bickering between the two coalitions is growing as the campaign period drew closer.  INQUIRER