AS Vice President Jejomar Binay delivers his own version of State of the Nation Address he dubbed “true SONA” on Monday, presidential candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II has a word for Binay: “E ‘di wow!”
Asked to react on Binay’s response to President Aquino’s Sona, Roxas playfully answered “E ‘di wow!”–a popular phrase the President used in his valedictory address at the Congress when he responded to the administration’s critics believed to be directed against Binay.
At 4 p.m., Binay delivered his “True SONA” at the Cavite State University gym in Indang, Cavite.
The “e di wow” quip of Roxas elicited laughter from reporters who interviewed him after his farewell assembly with the officials and employees of Department of the Interior and Local Government and its attached agencies at the DILG-National Police Commission office in Quezon City.
Roxas also said he would tender his resignation when he meets with the President on Monday afternoon. But in a separate event, Aquino said he might ask Roxas to “stay in the post a little longer” so he could finish tasks that needs to be done first.
Last Friday, Aquino officially endorsed Roxas as the standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party in an event called “Gathering of Friends” at the historic Club Filipino.
The word war between Roxas and the Binays escalated at the height of the issue on the suspension of Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay as Makati Mayor over the alleged overpriced constructions of the Makati City Hall Building II and Makati City Science High School. Both the Vice President and his son were accused of involvement in the anomalies.
The Office of the Ombudsman tasked the DILG, which Roxas happens to lead, to implement the suspension order twice–in March and in June. But Junjun defied both orders and holed up in his office. During the June suspension, the resistance of the Binays led to a heated encounter when the Vice President allegedly roughed up on policemen barricading the city hall. The younger Binay eventually vacated his office “temporarily” as then Makati Vice Mayor Romulo “Kid” Pena took his oath as the city’s mayor.
In the 2010 national elections, when Roxas slid down for Aquino, he ran for Vice President but lost to Binay. A month later, Roxas filed an electoral protest against his opponent over the election results, saying there were about 2.6 million null votes that affected the vote tally.
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