Binay to give ‘true’ Sona on Monday

Vice President Jejomar Binay. FILE PHOTO

Vice President Jejomar Binay will deliver at 4 p.m. Monday what he dubbed as the “true” state of the nation at the Cavite State University (CSU) gym in Indang, Cavite.

Binay was in Cavite twice last week for the merger of his political party, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), and the Partido Magdalo, a local political party headed by his former spokesman, Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla.

UNA is banking on the support of Cavite officials to help boost Binay’s ratings for the 2016 elections.

“We from UNA are optimistic about the leadership and popularity of Gov. Jonvic Remulla and other local officials and the Magdalo group… It will definitely result in a big leap in (Binay’s) ratings,” UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan said in a text message to the Inquirer on Sunday.

A number of officials and Magdalo members threw their support behind Binay’s presidential bid by signing a covenant of unity on Thursday evening, according to an e-mailed statement from UNA.

Binay’s close aides were reluctant on Sunday to say what the people could expect to hear from the Vice President’s speech, which he earlier said was intended as a response to President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week.

“Just wait and listen,” said Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, the president of UNA.

Ilagan said Binay “will be statesmanlike in his speech.”

Near the people

Remulla, who will host Binay, said the Vice President chose to speak in Cavite to be near the people.

“He wants to be where the people are,” Remulla said in a phone interview, adding that Binay thought that holding it at his official residence, the Coconut Palace, was “too insulated.”

By holding it at CSU, Binay will highlight one of the priority problems the government should address—the welfare of students in state universities and colleges, which continue to be underfunded, according to Remulla.

“The students need help but, here, politics comes first before them,” added Remulla.

Binay’s speech is not expected to be as long as Aquino’s Sona that lasted more than two hours.

SAF not mentioned

After Aquino’s Sona, Binay’s spokespersons came out slamming the President for not mentioning in his speech other “pressing matters which his [administration] failed to accomplish.”

These included justice for the 44 Special Action Force members who were killed in a police operation targeting international terrorists in Maguindanao; distribution of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita to farmer beneficiaries;

Corruption at the Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Agriculture and other agencies; illegal use of the Disbursement Acceleration Program funds; corruption and ineptitude at the Bureau of Customs; selective justice and politicization of the Office of the Ombudsman and the judiciary; and abuse of legislative authority.

“In his true Sona, the Vice President will remove the gloss and tell the plain truth as experienced every day by ordinary Filipinos,” Binay’s political spokesman, Richo Quicho, said in a statement issued last week.

RELATED STORIES

Vote-rich Cavite to boost Binay’s ratings-UNA

Binay to deliver own Sona ‘in due time’