Malacañang to Binay: Aquino was never rude to you

“It’s very unbecoming of a public official to speak ill of a president who has treated him very well in the highest possible manner.”

This was the reaction of a Malacañang Palace official to reports that Vice President Jejomar Binay was claiming he was never treated as a friend by the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

In an interview over a local radio station in Pangasinan on Friday, Binay said he never felt he was treated as a friend and that forced him to leave.

“Talaga? Ngayon lang niya sinasabi? Limang taon siyang nandoon sa Gabinete. Kailan siya binastos ni Pangulong Aquino? Ni minsan hindi ho siya binastos (Really? Why is he saying that now? He has been with the Cabinet for five years. When was President Aquino rude to him? He was never disrespected),” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told Palace reporters.

“Parati ho tuwing may Cabinet meeting, iginagalang po ang ating Pangalawang Pangulo (Every time there is a Cabinet meeting, the Vice President has been accorded due respect).”

Binay, the opposition’s standard-bearer in the 2016 elections, quit from Aquino’s Cabinet last month.

READ: Binay quits Aquino Cabinet

He has since been more vocal in criticizing the ruling Liberal Party and the administration despite his previously close ties to the Aquino family.

“It does not look good on him. For all intents and purposes, he has been treated as the second highest official in the land. There were no political considerations in the five years that he was with us in the Cabinet. And to speak now of saying that he was not well treated does not speak well of him as a person and as an official,” Lacierda explained.

“The President has never treated him any differently from any other Cabinet Secretary. He has treated him as his Vice President,” he added.

Echoing Aquino’s earlier statements, Lacierda said the President was generous enough to give Binay several Cabinet posts—as presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers affairs and head of the National Housing Authority.

READ: Aquino on Binay: I saved him from being spare tire

“He has been given so much to work on and yet despite this, after serving the Cabinet and because he wants to run for the presidency, all he does after announcing his presidential run is to lambast the President,” Lacierda said.

During the radio interview, Binay also claimed that Malacañang had been asking law enforcement officials if he was gunning for their support.

Lacierda said he did not have any information on the matter.

He said Binay should first check if he still had the support of the people amid corruption allegations against him.

Lacierda said that while Binay had submitted an affidavit to the Senate, which had been investigating claims of corruption in Makati City, “their affidavit is a useless piece of paper, unless you appear before the Senate and swear to it and answer questions regarding your affidavit.”

“He is trying to put the President down in order to boost his presidential chances. Now, if you are a decent guy, will you run a campaign based on the negative, which are all lies?” he added.

Responding to Binay’s complaints about the President’s handling of the economy, Lacierda said, “Where were you during the Cabinet meetings? Let me ask you: Where were you in all the five years in government that we were there? We were helping to solve the country’s problems. Nandoon kami, ewan ko kung nasaan kayo (We were there; I don’t know where you were).”