Palace dares Binay: Back up allegations with facts

MALACANANG on Thursday said that Vice President Jejomar Binay should support his allegations against the current administration with facts.

At a press briefing, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said that unlike the scathing remarks of the vice president, the Aquino administration always back the results of its programs with facts.

“Ang responsable pong dapat gawin ng sinuman ay kung anuman ang ipinapahayag dapat ito ay batay sa aktuwal na datos (The responsible thing that any individual is to back any statement with actual data),” Coloma said.

The Palace official, meanwhile, said that the Filipino people will be the ones who will evaluate the veracity of the scathing remarks made by the vice president.

“Mas mainam po siguro kayo na mismo o ang mga boss na mismo ang humatol kung sino ang nagsasabi ng katotohanan. Pinagtatanggol po namin ang aming record. Handa po namin itong ipagtanggol. Hayag naman po ‘yan sa lahat ng mga mamamayan. Kahit anong isyu o katanungan nila, haharapin po ng ating administrasyon,” he added.

(It is better for the bosses to decide who is saying the truth. We are defending our record. The administration is ready to face any issue or question.)

On Thursday’s briefing, Coloma maintained that the administration placed the “highest priority” for the development of the Filipino people.

He said that the Aquino administration has allocated 37 percent of the 201 budget for projects focusing on “social development and poverty reduction.” The government also widened its coverage on its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Coloma cited the results of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey saying that there is a 3.7 percent drop in the number of families who said they are experiencing involuntary hunger.

Aside from a decreasing number of hungry families, the Aquino administration prides itself for lowering the number of out of schoolchildren and unemployed individuals.

During the launch of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) on Wednesday, Binay slammed the Aquino government for allegedly failing to provide sufficient services to the people. He said that the current administration is “slow, lazy and indecisive.”