Binay mocks Roxas comics as he campaigns with ‘Yolanda’ survivors
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte — Vice President Jejomar Binay mocked his opponent, Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas, for depicting himself in his comics as a hero during the onslaught of the strongest typhoon to hit land.
“Nagpagawa pa ng komiks. (He had the gall to make his comics made.) Oh my God! How shameful it is! He was a hero in Yolanda? Oh my God! He was outstanding in his incompetence in trying to become a leader to rehabilitate Tacloban,” Binay said during a rally attended by more than 2,500 people on Wednesday night at the Tacloban Convention Center.
Incidentally, the convention center was used as evacuation center after the city was pummelled to the ground by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” that killed more than 2,200 people and displaced at least 14,000 families in this city alone.
In his speech that lasted more than 30 minutes, Binay lambasted Roxas and the Aquino administration for mishandling the rehabilitation and relief operations in the aftermath of Yolanda in Tacloban, considered its ground zero.
While Binay made fun of Roxas for portraying himself as a hero of Yolanda, posters bearing the name and face of the Vice President with written words “Yolanda survivors para kay Binay” were all over Tacloban.
When asked about it, Binay said he had no idea where these posters came from.
“Just to be honest, I travelled from Ormoc City (Leyte) up to Tacloban. I didn’t see those posters. But thanks to whoever put these there,” he told a news conference that was originally scheduled for 5 p.m. but was conducted at 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, who was at the press conference, described Roxas’ comic book as “very fictional.”
He, however, admitted that he had neither seen or read the comic book.
“I don’t read comics. But I heard nothing good about it. (To me), it was very fictional; it was not factual. There was no basis,” said Romualdez, who had engaged Roxas in a word war in the aftermath of Yolanda.
“I was here the whole time. Alam mo, pangalawang buhay ko na ‘to kaya magsabi na lang tayo ng totoo kung ano ang nangyari para sa ganoon, marami tayong matututunan (This is my second lease on life so we should all tell truth on what really happened, so that we get to learn a lot from it),” Romualdez said.
His vice mayor, Jerry Yaokasin, earlier came to the defense of Roxas, saying the magnitude of the disaster caused by Yolanda made it a “no-win” situation for Roxas who was in Tacloban before, during and after the onslaught.
“Whatever we say now will be prone to misinterpretations because it’s campaign period,” he said.
“But I stand by (my statement) that Secretary Mar and the national government did their best and what it could during that catastrophe,” Yaokasin said.
In a comic book, titled “’Sa Gitna ng Unos,’ Roxas, standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party,” was portrayed a hero who was leading the people to a safe place while the ceiling of the building was about to collapse.
Apparently, the area referred to in the comic book was the Leyte Park Hotel where Roxas together with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin stayed while they were in Tacloban at that time. The hotel sustained major damage due to Yolanda.
The comic book, however, drew flak from netizens. SFM
