Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
“I don’t know what kind of a State of the Nation Address (Sona) he’s going to give.”
This was the reaction of presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda when asked regarding Vice President Jejomar Binay’s plan to deliver his own version of the state of the nation.
In a press briefing, Lacierda said Binay has the right to react to President Benigno Aquino III’s last and longest Sona delivered on Monday, but mockingly added that he was clueless what the Vice President would report.
“Well, nais niyang magbigay ng kanyang kontra-SONA at nasa karapatan po niya kung gusto niyang magpahiwatig ng kanyang state of the nation whatever, whatever. So bahala siya,” Lacierda told reporters.
Lacierda, however, added that they would “call into task” if Binay would tell lies.
“It’s up to the Vice President whatever he wants to quote. He wants to quote from an Andersen’s Fairy Tale, it’s up to him,” he said.
Following Binay’s remark that Aquino’s Sona was “unstatesmanlike” for taking potshots at his political opponents, Lacierda said the Vice President “should look at himself before the mirror” first.
On Monday, the Vice President said he would deliver his own Sona “in due time” as a reaction to Aquino’s two-hour speech.
“Let’s just wait for my delivery of the true state of the nation,” Binay told reporters.
READ: Binay to deliver own Sona ‘in due time’
In his final Sona, Aquino thanked his Cabinet members among many other people and spewed fire against his critics, alluding to the camp of the Vice President. Binay resigned from the Aquino Cabinet in June and declared himself leader of the opposition.
Contrastingly, Aquino sang praises for presumptive Liberal Party standard-bearer and Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and warned that the gains of the present administration would be at stake after just one election.
READ: Bullseye: Binay | Aquino warns: Gains can falter after just one election