Honasan denies boos aimed at Binay; says warm response felt in Sinulog

Sen. Gregorio Honasan II. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan on Tuesday said, that contrary to reports, there was no booing that marred the attendance of his running mate Vice President Jejomar Binay during the Sinulog festival in Cebu.

During the Pandesal forum at the Kamuning Bakery Cafe, Honasan said that, in fact, he felt a warm response from the Cebuanos when he attended the festival with Binay.

READ: Jojo Binay booed at Cebu Sinulog festival

“I was there. I don’t know if I have defective hearing. Even if you accuse me of being partisan, wala akong (narinig na boo). Hindi ko naman narinig or naramdaman. The reception was quite warm,” Honasan said.

(I was there. I don’t know if I have defective hearing. Even if you accuse me of being partisan, I didn’t hear any boos. I didn’t hear or feel. The reception was quite warm.)

Honasan denied that the boos compelled Binay to cut short his speech.

“It can be viewed in many ways. I was there. Hindi ko narinig ‘yung binoo (I didn’t here any boos),” Honasan said.

The vice presidential bet of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) said they did not want to use the religious event for political ends.

“It was not intended to be a political event, it was a religious event. To give due respect, we avoided turning it political,” Honasan said.

Binay’s spokesperson Joey Salgado blamed the Liberal Party (LP) for instigating the booing incident.

READ: Binay camp tags Liberal Party for Sinulog boos

“We have received reports, it (boos) came from the LP contingent… Pero kung hindi nila kayang igalang si Vice President Binay, sana man lang iginalang nila ang okasyon (If they cannot respect the Vice President, they should have respected the occasion),” Salgado said.

Meanwhile, LP coalition spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said the booing incident came from the ordinary Cebuanos, not from the LP.

Gutierrez said Binay should brace himself for more booing incidents to come as he avoids the Senate investigation into the alleged corruption and rigging of infrastructure projects when he was mayor in Makati.

“Ang malinaw dun, ito ay mga ordinaryong Pilipino na pinakita kung ano ang kanilang opinyon kay Vice President at ano ang kanilang tingin sa paulit-ulit na pag-iwas ni Vice President sa akusasyong korapsyon laban sa kaniya,” Gutierrez said.

(The clear thing is that these are ordinary Filipinos who showed their opinion of Vice President and their view on continuous avoidance of Vice President on accusation of corruption against him.)

“Foretaste pa lang yung Cebu incident dun sa haharapin ni Vice President Binay sa mga darating na mga buwan papuntang eleksyon,” he added.

(The Cebu incident was just a foretaste of what Vice President Binay will face in the upcoming months towards elections.)

READ: LP to Binay: Expect more booing after the ‘Ce-boo’ incident

Binay has regained his lead in the latest voters’ preference surveys even as he faces graft indictment before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly rigging the procurement for the design and construction of the P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II, deemed the country’s priciest car park building, when he was Makati mayor.

READ: With his stocks recovering, VP Binay vows to ‘work harder’

The Ombudsman has approved the filing of four counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019, six counts of Falsification of Public Documents and one count of Malversation for his involvement in phases 1 and 2 of the car park project.

Since Because Binay has immunity as an impeachable officer, the Ombudsman is set to file the charges after his term ends.

The Vice President also faces four other plunder and graft complaints before the Ombudsman over the alleged anomalies involving the Makati Science High School Building, University of Makati, a Fort Bonifacio property and over an allegedly anomalous land deal between Alphaland and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, where Binay is long-running President.

READ: Ombudsman finds probable cause to charge VP Binay with graft

Binay has earlier said that the corruption allegations against him were merely intended to derail his presidential bid. RAM

READ: Binay appeals graft indictment, says it’s meant to ruin 2016 run