Albay Governor Joey Salceda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Albay Governor Joey Salceda expressed dismay over media reports saying he was not toeing the Liberal Party’s line for a 12-0 Team PNoy victory in his province.
He said there was no such statement from him on the matter. “Walang ganyan. Definitely I did not say it.”
Salceda, who is the LP head in Albay, said in a text message Tuesday that his reported dropping of the 12-0 Team PNoy target and pushing for a 6-5-1 outcome were farfetched political scenarios.
Salceda, reacting to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report said, “this is journalism of the worst order,” where he was quoted as saying he would vote for opposition senatorial candidate Nancy Binay.
He said the role he played on Sunday was to welcome Vice President Jejomar Binay as the second highest official of the land.
“The (Binay) visit in Albay was an occasion where the Daragang Magayon Festival, a month-long celebration, was at its climax,” he said, adding everybody was welcome in Albay, regardless of party, organization or religious affiliations.
“It’s an Albayano’s trait to be hospitable and friendly,” he said.
Salceda said he was asked to introduce Binay because a program of the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council, which is headed by Binay, had beneficiaries that included officials of the towns of Sto. Domingo and Tiwi in Albay.
“After the program, the vice president asked me to join him for lunch at the Oriental Hotel Legazpi. There we had a closed-door lunch with the UNA contingent and the party’s ”embedded” media team. There were no media statements there,” he said.
Salceda said “when I was called to sit at the VP’s table, the media swarmed” around the table. He added he told them he fought with Binay under Bandila against the Marcos dictatorship.
Salceda said he remembered Binay as a ”Rambotito” defending the administration of Corazon Aquino against the coups and acknowledged Binay’s leadership of Makati City.
He said Binay pushed the “frontiers of LGU engagement and role in nation-building and national development.”
“I was half-seriously asked by the media to raise the hands, I merely held the hands of Nancy and Jack, but did not raise them. It was a signal for me to stand and go,” recounted Salceda.
“Natawa si Senator Jinggoy sa ginawa at sinabing character nga daw ako (Senator Jinggoy laughed at what I did and said I was some character,” Binay said.
Salceda denied that he accompanied the UNA team in its rally, saying he was too busy attending to the Daragang Magayon Festival’s grand street dancing presentation.
Except for an UNA rally in Tabaco City, there was no rally in Legazpi City and in Polangui but the team had a motorcade in Legazpi, Daraga, and all the towns in the first district of the Albay.
Salceda also denied the reported circulation of sample ballots containing the names of six Team PNoy candidates, five from UNA and an independent candidate.
“This is an old practice, a political strategy engaged by some political supporters bent on pushing for their choice candidates,” he said.
On statements the statements of former senators Ramon Magsaysay and Jamby Madrigal demanding for an explanation why he should not be sanctioned his supposedly loose statements and indiscretion, Salceda simply said, “They do not have the entire facts.”