Aquino hits Binay twice in Cebu

Not once, but twice.

In his two speeches in Cebu City on Monday, Vice President Jejomar Binay received verbal jabs from President Benigno Aquino III.

On Monday morning, Aquino took an apparent swipe against Binay whom he said is being blind to the support given by his administration to support government infrastructure projects in the province.

“Problema lang po, ‘yung taong nagbubulag-bulagan, maski gaano kagandang salamin ibigay natin, wala pa ring makikita (The problem is, those who are pretending to be blind will not see anything even if you give them good glasses),” Aquino said.

“Kaya kung siya ho ay gustong manirahan sa sarili niyang mundong siya ang lumikha, problema na po niya iyon. Pero paalala po natin, libre ang pagamot (If he insists on living in his fantasy world, that is his problem. However, we remind him that we give the cure for free),” the President added.

The remark by Aquino was a response to Binay’s claim that due to the government’s negligence and failure to fund major infrastructure projects, Cebu province slipped in its ranking in the competitive index.

Meanwhile, in the Cebu leg of the “Gathering of Friends” Monday afternoon where he endorsed Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II as his successor, Aquino hinted that Binay will derail the progress brought by “Daang Matuwid (straight path).”

“Huwag nating kalimutan na hindi lahat ng gustong pumalit sa atin (ay) kasama natin sa daang matuwid. Sa kabilang banda, meron namang klarong-klaro na ang kanyang pinagsasabi ay taliwas sa ating daang matuwid. Na tila nga sabi ng iba ay nagsamantala lang sa pakikisama sa daang matuwid. Dagdag pa nila, yun daw limang taong kanyang pinapalakpakan ngayon ay tinatawag na niyang palpak,” Aquino said.

(Let us not forget that some who wants to succeed us is not part of the Daang Matuwid. On the other hand, there are those who are clearly against Daang Matuwid. Some say that he just benefitted from being an ally. They added that he is now attacking the administration he praised for the past five years.)

“Siguro naman wala ng papanig sa sisira rin lahat ng ginawa ng daang matuwid (I think that no one will side with those who will derail the gains of Daang Matuwid),” the President told the audience.

Binay became the administration’s staunchest critic after he resigned last June from the Cabinet posts he held for the past five years.

Like Aquino, Roxas and Senator Grace Poe, Binay was also in the vote-rich province of Cebu on Monday.

Despite being embroiled in a corruption scandal, Binay said that he would not back down in his pursuit of running for president in next year’s polls.