Don’t shoot. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda is defending himself from criticism that he is dipping his hands in politics. He says it is part of his job. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / INQUIRER FILE
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda won’t back down amid calls for his resignation.
Lacierda told media on Wednesday that unlike former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, he was not running for public office and should not be asked to resign for talking about politics.
“The nature of my office is fundamentally a messenger. I am well aware of who my principal is and what he has pronounced. In other words, please don’t shoot the messenger,” he said.
“Trabaho lang din ito (This is only a job),” he told a reporter asking for his reaction on an editorial written about him. “The distinction between Mar Roxas and I and why he resigned is Mar Roxas is running for public office and I am not.”
On Wednesday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran an editorial titled “Lacierda’s 2 masters.” It questioned Lacierda’s actions, alleging that the presidential spokesperson was campaigning for Roxas, who is the administration bet.
READ: Lacierda’s 2 masters
“Undisguised, and unapologetic. Lacierda’s tart response was unbecoming of the chief spokesperson for a political program that calls itself the Straight Path,” the editorial said. “Unfortunately, he seems content to conflate the interests of the President with those of Roxas.”
The opinion piece jumped off from Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s call for Lacierda to resign if he wanted to “dip his hands in politics.”
READ: Escudero twits Lacierda: Resign if you’ll continue to speak for Roxas
But Lacierda insisted that he was allowed to talk about politics.
“If my principal can speak on political matters and favors or endorses Mar Roxas, and since the Supreme Court already stated that the nature of the office of a Cabinet Secretary is a political office, then I am within the mandate of my office as spokesperson to speak on matters that the press asked me to comment on,” he said.
He pointed out that he had been asked to resign “every time a sensitive political matter is discussed and the views do not reflect the views of some.”
Lacierda has been linked to the Roxas camp. There were earlier reports that he planned to resign in order to join Roxas’ campaign but Lacierda denied the rumors.