NOY CONTRADICTS OWN SPOKESMAN
[PHOTO -The way they were: President Benigno Aquino III and Vice
President Jejomar Binay are shown in a huddle in this file photo taken in 2010,
when they awarded that year's model migrant worker family.]
MANILA, APRIL 16, 2012 (STANDARD)
Written by Maricel Cruz - THE higher cost of electricity and the
continuing power outages will exact a heavy toll on the political chances of
President Benigno Aquino III's candidates in the 2013 mid-term elections in
Mindanao, a lawmaker from the island said Sunday.
Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong said support for the administration's
candidates will be put to a severe test in Mindanao given the ongoing power
shortage and the prospects for higher rates there.
On Friday, President Aquino warned Mindanao's residents they would have to
pay more for their electricity or continue suffering blackouts. He also
dismissed widespread opposition to a government plan to sell off the
Agus-Palangui hydroelectric plants despite public fears that would drive up
power costs.
Mindanao has 10 million voters as of 2010 and accounts for 24 percent of the
country's population.
Agham Party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones said as customers paid their monthly
electric bills, they would not forget the sufferings inflicted on them by the
Aquino administration.
"I have talked to several Mindanao officials and business leader. The
sentiment is common: Why do we have to vote for candidates who insist on giving
Mindanao a bleak future?" Palmones said.
House Deputy Minority Leader and Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said
electricity was a politically sensitive issue and could determine the outcome of
the elections in Mindanao in 2013.
Magsaysay said the government's inefficient handling of the Mindanao power
crisis could spell strategic political setbacks for the administration.
"If you do not address the issue raised by the people, then you will be the
one to answer for that in the 2013 elections," Magsaysay said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño warned the Aquino administration that the 2013
polls would be payback time for its failure to provide clean and inexpensive
power to the island.
"The President was not only insensitive but dead wrong in giving the people
of Mindanao only two choices, which is to pay higher rates or live in darkness,"
Casiño said.
But administration ally Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said President
Aquino and Energy Department officials had taken concrete actions to solve the
Mindanao power crisis, but continued to oppose the privatization of state-owned
power plants.
Former Surigao congressman Robert Ace Barbers, Nacionalista Party spokesman,
also played down any political fallout from the power crisis, except for some
pressure on local candidates.
Barbers said the government should be able to provide the people of Mindanao
"more choices rather than increasing the power cost."
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on
/2012/April/16)
FROM PHILSTAR
P-Noy contradicts Valte, sees no split with Binay
By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated April 17, 2012 12:00
AMComments (5)
[PHOTO- PNoy's DEPUTY SPOKESMAN ABIGAIL VALTE]
MANILA, Philippines - Contrary to his subordinate's assessment, President
Aquino sees no problem with the presidential ambitions of Vice President Jejomar
Binay and predicts no split between the PDP-Laban and the ruling Liberal Party
(LP), of which he is chairman.
If the former Makati City mayor, now a member of his Cabinet as housing and
overseas Filipino workers' czar, would benefit from all the reforms his
government wants implemented, then it would be in his best interest to stay with
the party and not part ways. "Who is the politician who would stand up and say
that we don't like what's happening? So the inevitability is possible, but also
not," he told reporters yesterday in a hastily called briefing in Malacañang.
Over the weekend, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte
categorically stated in her regular interview over state-run radio station dzRB
that Aquino and Binay's parting of ways in 2016 was "inevitable."
"It's not a clash but there will be an inevitable parting of ways because of
the fact that the Vice President and the President belong to different political
parties," she said.
"As such, there will be divergence when it comes to endorsing candidates
because, of course, they belong to two different political parties," the Palace
undersecretary added.
She said there will come a time when the two leaders would endorse two
different candidates.
Aquino also defended Binay – a long-time friend who served as
officer-in-charge of Makati during the term of the late President Cory Aquino in
the late 1980s – from speculations he was going against the incumbent
administration, now that the May 2013 polls are drawing nearer.
"What is important here is that Vice President Binay is with the
administration in making things better for the Philippines," the Chief Executive
said.
In view of the May 2013 senatorial polls, and in preparation for the 2016
presidential elections, Binay has already formed a new political party called
the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), for the purpose of fielding candidates in
the national and local levels.
Nevertheless, he refused to answer queries regarding a news report that
Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II – who gave way to him in the May 2010
elections – is no longer interested in seeking the presidency in 2016.
Impeachment not about P-Noy or Binay
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero said that the outcome of the voting for or
against the guilt of Chief Justice Renato Corona should not be seen as part of
political alignments between allies of President Aquino and Vice President
Binay.
Escudero was reacting to the statements of ex-Sen. Ernesto Maceda that a vote
to acquit Corona will be a vote for Binay.
Escudero said each senator's vote during D-Day for Corona should not be
interpreted as a vote of confidence either for Aquino or Binay.
"While I respect his opinion, I disagree with it. The trial is not about the
political fortunes of P-Noy and VP Binay but about the innocence or guilt of CJ
Corona on the impeachment complaint filed against him," the senator said.
"Whoever our decision may tend to politically favor or disfavor is farthest
from my mind in arriving at a decision. (I) will base it solely on the merits
and evidence of the case," Escudero said.
Binay's camp also disagreed with Maceda's statement.
The Vice President, through his spokesman Joey Salgado, said Corona's
impeachment trial is a test of Philippine democracy, and "it is important that
the people see the trial as fair and impartial, and the outcome is respected by
all."
He said the votes of the senator-judges should not be dictated by party
affiliations or political plans "but by their appreciation of the facts
presented during the trial and by what would help strengthen our democracy."
Over the weekend, Maceda asserted that the vote to acquit Corona would mean a
vote for Binay while a guilty verdict means a vote for Aquino.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson also frowned on Maceda's statement, saying it is an
insult to the senator-judges.
Lacson said Maceda was making it appear that the historical impeachment trial
was purely a political matter.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said Maceda's statements were baseless since he
and Binay have not been talking about the impeachment case.
Although they are partymates, Pimentel said there is no marching order or
pressure from the vice president on how he should vote during the trial.
"We believe former senator Ernesto Maceda was expressing his personal opinion
as a political analyst. These are the same views he has aired before in his
column and interviews," Binay said.
Noy contradicts
However, Maceda said yesterday that he was "slightly taken out of context" by
another paper that the vote in Corona's impeachment trial would dictate the fate
of Binay, who has consistently stated that he would run for president in 2016,
and whoever President Aquino will support as presidential candidate in 2016.
He theorized that Corona's conviction will bolster the chance of Aquino's
anointed candidate, while an acquittal will boost Binay's chances.
The ties that bind
On his relationship with the President, Binay said that politics will not
strain his friendship with the Aquinos, to whom he owed much.
Speaking at the inauguration of the JSU-AMOSUP Maritime Museum, Binay said he
will never forget his debt of gratitude to the Aquino clan, especially the
mother of the President, the late former President Cory Aquino.
"I owe to the Aquino family what I am and where I am right now," he said,
adding he was once "invited to a state dinner as a family member of President
Noynoy."
Binay also maintained that UNA is a constructive opposition.
He said that there is still a possibility for UNA to coalesce with LP of
President Aquino, adding that there were peripheral talks but there had been no
feelers from LP.
"The President and I are not talking about politics," Binay said.
Binay said everyone is welcome to join UNA, including Sen. Manny Villar's
Nacionalista Party (NP) and Sen. Edgardo Angara's Laban ng Demokratikong
Pilipino (LDP).
He added that Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, a close ally of former President and now
jailed Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, applied to be member of UNA as an
individual and not as a member of Lakas.
"We have no slate yet. It is still under talks. UNA is a collective
leadership and our slate will be decided collectively by the UNA leadership,"
Binay said. – Rodel Clapano, Christina Mendez
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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