Binay mum on Noy’s SONA, to deliver own version

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay declined yesterday to comment on President Aquino’s final State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, saying he will deliver the “true state of the nation” in due time.

Binay, who delivered a keynote speech at the Security Congress APAC 2015 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City, also refused to comment on a split-screen shot of him along with Sen. Grace Poe and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, his potential rivals in the 2016 presidential elections, during Aquino’s SONA.

“Just wait for my response in due time,” he said.

The Vice President, however, said he was not offended by the President’s apparent use of his old campaign slogan “Kay Binay, gaganda ang buhay” (With Binay, life will get better).

“There’s a part there that I don’t think I was being alluded to. Because the way it was said is that there are those who say that our countrymen will have a better life but could not back it up,” he said.

In his two-hour speech, Aquino asked how the promise of “gaganda ang buhay” will become real when the supposed proponent has not provided concrete plans.

“Sa mga medyo may-edad po, ang isasagot dito, ‘Ah ganun?’ sabay taas ng kilay. Para naman sa kabataan, ang sagot natin sa ganoong pahayag: E di wow (Those who are older might say is that so and raise an eyebrow, while the younger set will react: so wow),” Aquino said.

Binay’s comment when prodded by reporters was, “Wow na wow naman yun (That’s so very wow)!”

Nothing new

The camp of the Vice President said they were not surprised by the President’s tirades against him considering his recent resignation from the Cabinet.

Binay quit the Cabinet last month, saying he could no longer stomach the administration’s neglect of the poor and persecution of its political opponents.

Rico Quicho, Binay’s spokesman for political affairs, said the Vice President did not feel alluded to because he has solidly delivered the social and economic programs that uplifted the lives of the people he has served as Makati mayor and continue to serve as Vice President.

“It was expected that there would be potshots against the Vice President, considering his recent resignation from the Cabinet. It is a small price to pay for showing the people the palpak (inept) and manhid (insensitive) governance of the administration that further marginalized the poor,” Quicho said in a statement.

Quicho said Aquino’s SONA downplayed and disregarded the gains of previous administrations that were used as the blueprint for present administration projects.

“In his true SONA, Vice President Jejomar Binay will remove the gloss and tell the plain truth as experienced everyday by ordinary Filipinos,” Quicho said.

Sen. Nancy Binay, who accompanied the Vice President at the Security Congress yesterday, said she expected the President not to thank or praise her father in his speech.

“It’s okay. We’re used to it. It’s nothing new,” the senator told reporters.

“We respect the decision of the President not to include his name. It’s his prerogative,” she added. – With Edith Regalado