LP: We won’t sue over Mr. Palengke claim

FOR APPROPRIATING the “Mr. Palengke” moniker while making his rounds in public markets, Vice President Jejomar Binay need not worry about facing a plagiarism complaint from Mar Roxas, who has originally branded himself as the king of public markets.

“We won’t make a big deal out of it. We certainly won’t file a case for plagiarism,” Liberal Party (LP) coalition spokesperson Barry Gutierrez Sunday said in jest.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” the Akbayan representative said, while mocking the Binay campaign for being “so starved for good ideas that the best he can do is copy Secretary Mar.”

Gutierrez was reacting to Binay’s remarks painting himself as the true king of the “palengke,” or public market, in sorties around Quezon City on Friday.

“I have long been a ‘palengke’ boy. I eat in public markets in Makati City,” the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) candidate said, differentiating his demeanor toward the poor from that of his rival, a scion of the old-rich Araneta clan.

Roxas, the LP’s standard-bearer, styled himself as “Mr. Palengke” during his four-year stint as Trade and Industry Secretary in the early 2000s, in which he pushed for the development of the public market as the basic unit of the economy.

Gutierrez said Binay should also mimic Roxas’ record of integrity and honesty. DJ Yap