President Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
They are still friends separated only by different opinions.
Believe it or not but that was what Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay’s camp was saying on Thursday, a day after the opposition leader railed against the government, calling it “insensitive” and “inept.”
READ: Binay calls Aquino admin ‘uncaring,’ ‘blundering’
“What’s important is that they are still friends and while they may have different opinions, the Vice President gives importance to their relationship,” said Mon Ilagan, spokesperson for Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) party.
The feeling may not be mutual for President Benigno Aquino III.
On Thursday, Mr. Aquino came out swinging with some cutting words of his own, short of calling him an ingrate.
Mr. Aquino made it clear that Binay kept his high ratings after the 2010 elections only because he granted his requests to be given, despite not being an ally, the high-profile job of overseeing the administration’s housing and migrant workers’ affairs programs.
The President said he gave Binay the job he wanted to save him from becoming a “spare tire” but “this is how he repaid me.”
READ: Aquino on Binay: I saved him from being spare tire
Playing down Mr. Aquino’s comments, Ilagan said Binay was grateful for the Cabinet job given to him by the President.
He said the Vice President “really wanted to help the poor and [the] overseas Filipino workers.”
Ilagan also described as a “welcome development” President Aquino’s directive to his Cabinet to explain the issues raised by Binay against the administration.
Roxas, De Lima
Saying he was fed up with attacks from Mr. Aquino’s allies, Binay resigned from the Cabinet on Monday.
In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, he explained why he quit: He was going ahead with his plan to run for President in next year’s elections and Mr. Aquino’s allies could not stop him with the corruption charges they had thrown at him.
Binay may take the opportunity to speak about the President’s statements today when he goes to yet another public market visit, this time in Navotas City.
Also on Thursday, Binay’s camp came out swinging at his former colleagues in the Cabinet—Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima—who defended the administration against his attack on Wednesday.
5 years of insignificance
Binay’s political spokesperson, Rico Quicho, dismissed Roxas’ statements as “lame and insignificant just like the five years that he has been in the Cabinet.”
“Unfortunately, while the Vice President dutifully performed his mandate, the President’s and Secretary Roxas’ allies utilized government resources to maliciously discredit the accomplishments of the Vice President, while giving their presumptive candidate the chance to gain political mileage. They have done this and will continue to do so using taxpayer money,” Quicho said.
He also described as “lackadaisical” Roxas’ stints in the transport and communication and interior departments.
Quicho also claimed that in “private moments,” Binay had shared his views on governance issues, “something that Roxas and his Liberal Party allies in the Cabinet were not privy to.”
Allure of politics
In a separate statement, Quicho hit back at De Lima for denying that the administration was implementing selective justice as he pointed out that the Department of Justice “oppress(ed) the political opposition while allowing [Liberal Party] allies to go unpunished.”
“Worse, she is too titillated by the allure of politics that she neglects her job,” Quicho said, pointing out the controversies that had sprung from the New Bilibid Prison and De Lima’s failure to achieve justice for the families of the 44 Philippine National Police Special Action Force commandos who were killed in a botched counterterrorism operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, in January.
“Lady justice is blind but Secretary De Lima appears to be blinded by her own ambitions and her vow to protect the LP and its allies. Sadly, at the expense of ensuring equal justice for all the people,” Quicho said.
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