Aquino told: Don’t stoop down to ‘weak-willed’ Binay’s level
Don’t fight back.
That was the advice of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday after Vice President Jejomar Binay went on an offensive against the chief executive.
At a media forum, Trillanes said that Aquino should let his spokespersons address the allegations hurled by Binay in his scathing speech.
“Puwede i-address yung mga issues na ni-raise ni VP [Jejomar] Binay sa speech niya through his spokesman. (The issues raised by VP Binay in his speech ccan be addressed through his spokesman). The President does not need to go down the level of VP Binay,” Trillanes said.
The senator said that Binay’s resignation from the Aquino Cabinet stemmed from the President’s refusal to anoint him as his successor in 2016.
“What I saw in his speech is that he was an opportunist… traditional politics at its worst. Because just last week, he asked for the endorsement of the President, meaning up to that point, he does not consider the issues he raised in his speech as unacceptable,” Trillanes said.
Calling Binay as “mahina ang dibdib” (weak-willed), Trillanes said that Binay’s move showed that he cannot confront Aquino directly.
“You can see here that he is harboring ill feelings [against Aquino]. He is weak-willed and cannot confront President Aquino directly. You should tell your grievances to the person directly. But he just cannot do it,” the senator said.
“What he [Binay] did yesterday [Wednesday] was to create a fight. He made an enemy and his enemy is the most powerful man in the country. That does not necessarily mean a good thing, right?” he added.
Trillanes said that he expects Binay’s ratings to nosedive until he bows out from the 2016 presidential race.
He said that a 2016 presidential election without Binay “will be good for the country.”
“It will be good for the country. You now have three alternatives [Senator Grace Poe, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte]. A year ago, we were sure that VP Binay will be the next president of the country. Now, we have three choices, which is good,” he said.
Binay lashed out against Aquino on Wednesday, saying that the president has committed sins against the Filipino people, two days after resigning from his Cabinet posts. AU
