Binay saddened by Palace call for his men in gov’t to quit

Binay family’s counsel JV Bautista (center) and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s spokesman Joey Salgado (standing, right) are in a huddle before a Senate hearing on the allegedly overpriced Makati parking building II on Jan. 29, 2015, with Rep. Abby Binay, lawyer Claro Certeza and (sitting) lawyer Dodo Sarmiento and former Senators Joker Arroyo and Rene Saguisag.  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Sunday said that they were saddened by calls by Malacañang for all officials related to the vice president to resign.

Joey Salgado, the head of the Office of the Vice President Media Affairs, said that calling for the resignation of agency officials shows how the Aquino administration puts “premium on political ties and loyalties rather than competence and professionalism.”

“If you are not an ally of the administration or the Liberal Party, if you are marked as an ally of a political foe, you have no place in the government even if you are good and qualified. But if you are an ally of the administration and the LP, you will be protected and your faults are overlooked, even if you participated in anomalous transactions. This discredited system of palakasan and patronage in government should stop,” Salgado said in a statement.

On Saturday, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that appointees of Binay to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (Hudcc) should tender their courtesy resignations now that the vice president has resigned from his post.

“My understanding is that it is the norm that in any time, I’m not referring only to the vice president, any time a Cabinet secretary resigns from a position, it is conventional for the team he brought in to tender their courtesy resignations to the president,” Valte said on state-run radio dzRB.

However, Salgado said that the Hudcc officials are actually appointees of the President.

“The heads of housing agencies are presidential appointees. Some of the board members have fixed terms of office while some are co-terminus with the President. Vice President Binay made recommendations based on individual qualifications and willingness to serve in government. Yet, the Palace is again adding up the so-called favors given to the Vice President,” Salgado said.

“For five years they have labored quietly, instituting reforms in their agencies and fulfilling their mandate. Their accomplishments speak volumes,” he added.

He reiterated that the Aquino administration should stop attacking Binay and instead answer why the country is still crippled by widespread hunger and poverty.

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