CEBU CITY – Vice President Jejomar Binay’s rivals diverted the issue to corruption, just when he was discussing his platform to remove income tax of middle income earners during the second “PiliPinas” presidential debates here.
The debate ended with Binay accusing his nemesis Mar Roxas of defending the former’s friend mining magnate Eric Gutierrez despite allegations of environmental plunder, and the former Interior secretary lashing back at Binay over the slew of graft cases filed against his family before the Sandiganbayan.
Binay was asked during the debate on how he would strike a compromise between his plan of scrapping the income tax of those earning P30,000 and below monthly and his platform of increasing the country’s infrastructure program to the level of development in Makati.
Binay said his administration would go after big smugglers and sell government offices which are no longer of use to generate the revenue to plug in a hole in the tax stream.
Binay also said he would put an end to underspending, which he said left trillions of pesos to waste that could have been used for social services.
The issue over tax reform was diverted when Rodrigo Duterte blamed the poor implementation of government programs on corruption, which on the average eats away at least 30 percent of the allotted budget.
Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas thanked Duterte for his statement, which only affirmed the incumbent administration’s slogan “Kung walang kurap, walang mahirap.”
Independent presidential bet Grace Poe said what is saddening is that the administration’s slogan only remained a slogan.
Poe said some allies of the Liberal Party remain unscathed amid corruption allegations, citing the case of LP acting president Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya over the maintenance contract mess involving sacked MRT General Manager Al Vitangcol.
“Ang mga nakakasuhan sa LP ay mga latak lang na miyembro. Pero ang iba, katulad ni Sec. Abaya, na pumirma ng kontrata, ay nandyan pa rin… Hindi kinasuhan ng Ombudsman,” Poe said.
“Ang sinasabi niyo ba na ang Ombudsman ay kasabwat?” Roxas retorted.
“Ang sinasabi ko ngayon ang Daang Matuwid ay hindi natutupad sa lahat ng ahensiya ng gobyerno,” Poe said.
Asked for his reaction, Binay said poverty remains prevalent despite the government’s anticorruption program.
Binay mentioned the name of Roxas’ friend, mining magnate Eric Gutierrez, who lent Roxas his private planes for his campaign.
Gutierrez’s firm SR Metals is said to be resorting to large-scale mining even though its permit is for small-scale mining.
“Tuloy tuloy ang paghihirap ng ating mga kababayan. Milyon-milyon po, Mr. Roxas, ang naghihirap. So huwag mong sabihin na maganda ang nagawa niyo. Dumadami ang mahihirap kasi laganap ang korapsyon, kasi ang mga alyado niyo ang mga nagnanakaw sa minahan, nandiyan, hindi nahahabla,” Binay said.
Roxas shot back that Binay’s family – wife Dr. Elenita Binay and son Junjun – are facing a string of graft allegations during their rule as Makati mayor.
“Sa Sandiganbayan, nandyan po may kaso ang inyong pamilya sa pagnanakaw. Nandyan sa Sandiganbayan, makikita niyo na LP, non-LP ang makakasuhan. Diyan kakasuhan ka kung guilty or not guilty,” Roxas said.
Duterte urged Binay to name the ally of Roxas. Binay then named Roxas’ mining pal Eric Gutierrez.
Moderator Luchi Cruz-Valdes had to butt in to bring back the issue to tax reform, and to stop the candidates from naming people who are not present in the debate.
“Napupunta na po sa pulitiko sa Mindanao. Nalilihis na tayo sa P30,000 (tax issue)… With all due respect, I have to stop this,” Valdes said.
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