Binay’s verbal attacks on Aquino gov’t mere ‘sour grapes’–LP exec

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER PHOTO

A Liberal Party (LP) official has dismissed Vice President Jejomar Binay’s verbal attacks on the Aquino administration as mere “sour grapes,” saying the latter lacks the credibility to be the opposition figurehead.

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, the LP secretary general, said Binay’s statements against the government after quitting his Cabinet posts were patently dubious “coming from a person who used to heap praises on President Aquino’s leadership.”

Until a few months ago, he had been one of President Benigno Aquino III’s most vocal admirers, the congressman said of the Vice President.

“How can he accuse the President of being inept and insensitive when he was even bragging about President Aquino’s success in managing the country’s economy? In his keynote speech at the Philippine Capital Markets Investment Forum in May 2014, he even talked about the country’s unparalleled economic growth?” he said in a statement.

Sarmiento also recalled that at the induction of the Officers and Trustees of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Marriott Hotel in Cebu last year, Binay “heaped praise on President Aquino’s leadership” for bringing renewed investment confidence.

“How is it possible for an administration to be tagged as inept and insensitive and then credited as responsible for the country’s unparalleled economic growth by the same person? In my book, that’s just ‘sourgraping,’” he said.

As a former mayor of Makati and the father of its current mayor, Binay “couldn’t deny the fact that the country’s local government units (LGUs) are in a better place than before the Aquino administration,” Sarmiento said.

Of the P2.6 billion 2015 national budget, LGUs were allotted an unprecedented P302.3 billion in internal revenue allotment (IRA), 37.5 percent higher than the IRA allocation in 2010, he said. The IRA allocation increase provided LGUs more funds to support their programs and projects.

“Vice President Binay should do better than just spewing motherhood allegations. He should show us the numbers because as far as our most of our people are concerned, President Aquino has not gone astray with his commitment for ‘daang matuwid (straight path),’” Sarmiento said.

He said Binay’s sense of judgment was being clouded by his assumption that the Aquino administration was behind his present legal predicament involving charges of corruption.