Korina Sanchez now says Binay’s name but still slams him

MANILA, Philippines—The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has expressed appreciation that ABS-CBN news reader Korina Sanchez finally mentioned Jejomar Binay by name.

It said it hoped that Sanchez—the wife of former senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, whom Binay defeated in the 2010 vice presidential race—would “continue mentioning Vice President Binay’s name, not only in negatively slanted stories.”

Reporting on “TV Patrol” on Monday night, Sanchez named “Vice President Binay” in her spiel on the new OVP headquarters at the Coconut Palace on Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

Joey Salgado, Binay’s spokesperson and media officer, on Tuesday told the Inquirer that the OVP “sincerely appreciates Mrs. Roxas’ gesture of professionalism.”

Lacking factual basis

But Salgado added: “The ‘TV Patrol’ story on the Coconut Palace not only lacks factual basis. It was also slanted to favor the opinion of a Mar Roxas partisan in the last election who apparently did not know what he’s talking about.”

According to the report, Binay will have two offices once he moves into “his multimillion-peso palace,” which will “go against President Aquino’s instruction of austerity in government agencies.”

TV Patrol quoted Binay as saying that renting a portion of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) complex in Pasay City was necessary because not all the OVP employees could be accommodated at the Coconut Palace.

But Salgado pointed out that “even if we maintain two offices, the rent will still be lower than the P810,000 [monthly] rent” at the PNB complex.

“The Coconut Palace is considered a showcase of Philippine architecture, but it’s already crumbling. It’s also poorly maintained. The work being done is a restoration. [Nothing was touched but] the ground floor left wing designated as offices in the 1970s,” he said.

Binay’s complaint

Salgado also said Binay and his family would not live at the Coconut Palace.

He said the building would be used for “receiving foreign dignitaries” and for “educational tours”—facts that were “excluded from the ABS-CBN report.”

On March 2, Binay’s office filed a complaint with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas asking why Sanchez omitted the Vice President’s name on several occasions on “TV Patrol.”

The OVP also wrote ABS-CBN asking “to be clarified” on whether it was the editorial policy of its news desk to omit Binay’s name “in the lead or in the anchor’s spiels on stories about him.”

Contacted for comment, Bong Osorio of the ABS-CBN Corporate Communications Division then said: “There is no policy of omission in our news organization. The complaint raised by Mr. Joey Salgado has been referred to the network ombudsman.”