LACIERDA / SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda reacts during a media briefing held at the Malacanang Palace, Wednesday.
INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Wednesday scored the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay for calling him as “unpresidential,” when the opposition itself had supposedly resorted to name-calling against the administration.
“They call me ‘unpresidential’ and yet they call somebody else anything… They just brand you and call you names. You know, it’s like ‘pag kami ang binabanatan, okay lang sa inyo, pero ‘pag kayo ang binabanatan umiiyak kayo, nagbabansag kayo ng unpresidential,” Lacierda told reporters in a press briefing.
“Parang pikon yata kayo. Ang pikon, talo,” he said.
Binay spokesperson Rico Quicho on Tuesday called Lacierda an “unpresidential spokesperson” after the latter called the Vice President an “expert in corruption.”
READ: Binay camp calls Lacierda ‘unpresidential’ spokesperson
Binay’s camp accused the Liberal Party of bribing local officials for votes in the upcoming national elections through the Bottom-Up Budgeting.
But Lacierda maintained that the BUB was the government’s way of allowing people in a community “to determine what projects will benefit them.”
“The BUB has started during the time of Secretary Jesse Robredo. It has helped communities… Before BUB, ang ginagawa ng mayor, may pondo gagamitin pampapogi. Magtatayo siya ng welcome arch. Anong pakinabang sa mga tao sa komunidad?” Lacierda said.
“It’s called participatory governance where the people in the community can say ‘kulang tayo ng rural health unit—ng health unit—kulang tayo ng irrigation, kulang tayo ng clinic, kulang tayo ng eskuwela[han]—whatever. Sila mismo ang nag-de-determine kung ano ang makakabuti sa kanila. And, by the way, ang daming mga anecdotal testimonials na nagsasabing nakatulong sa amin ang BUB. Iba ang mentalidad ng mga taga-Binay camp e,” he added.
Lacierda also defended Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who was also tagged by Quicho as an enforcer of the ruling LP against its political enemies.
“She’s independent. She has gone after anybody who is corrupt. She has said as much. She… Regardless of political affiliation, she has filed cases against anyone… And to her credit, it has—she has done her job meticulously,” he said. TVJ