Vice President Binay’s words surprised even UNA men

The harsh and combative words of Vice President Jejomar Binay came as a surprise even to the president of the newly formed United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

“I didn’t expect it would go like that. I didn’t see the final speech. We were busy in the organization. I don’t know who wrote it,” said Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco.

But he said he believed Binay’s speech would set the tone for his campaign for the presidency in 2016.

“This kind of governance cannot continue. They (the administration) are for continuing the legacy. What we’re saying is we should not continue this,” he said, alluding to the Aquino government’s touted “tuwid na daan (straight path) governance.”

He said Binay rightly pointed to the problems facing the nation, such as the troubled Metro Rail Transit system and the slow rehabilitation of the places ravaged by super typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013.

Tiangco admitted he was surprised by the contents of the Vice President’s speech, but added that:   “What we should ask is: Did he speak the truth? …No one will argue that the problems he mentioned are the problems being felt by people.”

He said there was no plan to incite the people’s anger against the government. “People have different styles of delivering speeches. What’s important is the situation, and the solutions he offers to the people,” he said.

Asked if this spelled the end of Binay’s friendship with President Aquino, he only said: “I don’t know. I know they are friends, and I can’t intervene in their friendship.”

He said the suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Junjun Binay had nothing to do with the elder Binay’s fiery words.

“That (speech) was finalized as early as Sunday evening or Monday afternoon… Besides, being reactive is not a good way of doing a speech. The speech was based on what he sees and what he hears from people all over the country,” he said.

Binay delivered his sharpest words yet against the Aquino administration at the UNA launch.

He devoted a large part of his stinging and emotionally charged 15-minute speech lambasting the government, at one point describing it as an association of “tamad, usad-pagong at teka-teka (lazy, turtle-paced, hesitant)” people.

“Sa loob ng limang taon, napakarami pa rin ang walang trabaho, mga nagugutom at mga maysakit na walang malapitan, mga kabataang hindi mapag-aral ng kanilang pamilya, talamak na krimen at iligal na droga sa mga komunidad. Laganap pa rin ang kahirapan.”  (After five years, so many are still without jobs, hungry, ill and with no one to turn to, youths who cannot go to school, rampant crime and illegal drugs in the community. Poverty is widespread.)”

“Ang tanong ng bayan: nasaan ang gobyerno (The nation asks: where is the government)?” he said, addressing the crowd from a glowing red lectern shaped like the number 1, resembling the digit in the logo of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

That last sentence was repeated throughout the 15-minute speech, which was spoken entirely in Filipino.

Binay also kept repeating the phrase “palpak at manhid,” which he first used last week in explaining his split with the Aquino government.

“Ang UNA ay hindi samahan ng mga palpak at manhid. (UNA is not an association of the inutile and insensitive,” he said. “Hindi ito samahan ng tamad, usad-pagong, at teka-teka sa pagharap sa mga problema ng bayan (It is not a group of people who are lazy, turtle-paced, and hesitant in facing the nation’s problems).”

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