Lacierda calls Binay’s counter-Sona ‘charot’

By: Kristine Angeli Sabillo - 9 years ago

As far as Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda is concerned, Vice President Jejomar Binay’s counter State of the Nation Address (Sona) is a joke.

“Sadly the Vice President has been hitting everyone like a shotgun. It’s like his TSONA (True Sona) was ‘charot,’” he said during a Palace briefing on Wednesday.

“Charot” is a Filipino colloquial term that means “just kidding” or something that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

“We recognize all the problems that he mentioned but look we’re addressing all of them.” Lacierda said.

He said the Binay camp has been engaging in “politics of despair” and “politics of hate at its crudest” by criticizing the government.

“What has he been doing during the five years of campaigning?” Lacierda asked at one point.

“He could have been part of the solution. I certainly don’t recall him saying anything on SAF 44. I certainly do not recall him saying anything on MRT,” he said.

Lacierda said Binay had no right to call the President stubborn just because his advise was not heeded.

READ: Palace to Binay: Aquino not a dictator

Coke not coffee

On Wednesday morning, Binay’s spokesperson Joey Salgado told Lacierda to “chill” and cut back on drinking coffee since the “mere mention of the Vice President Binay’s name apparently makes his blood rise.”

But Lacierda said, referring to the Vice President, “I don’t drink coffee, I drink Coke Zero. So, you know, please get your trivia straight. Well…I understand that he cannot get my trivia straight because after all he could not get his facts straight in telling the truth when it comes to allegations of corruption against him.”

He also said the Binay camp should not question the attendance of Cabinet Secretaries in the Liberal Party event where President Benigno Aquino III endorsed Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.

“Cab secs are alter egos of the President,” Lacierda simply said.

Binay and Roxas will face each other in the presidential race in 2016.

Lacierda said Aquino has been “firm in pushing for the continuation of the daang matuwid (straight path).”

“Do you want daang matuwid to continue? Then you elect the person that the President has endorsed because there is an assurance, there is a certainty that Secretary Mar Roxas will continue daang matuwid and that’s the reason why President Aquino chose Secretary Mar Roxas as his candidate for 2016,” he explained.