Vice President Jojo
Binay has come out blasting at the Aquino administration in a bid to divert
public attention away from the corruption charges hounding him and his family.
The move might lead
to his breakup with the President and his removal from the Cabinet. Binay has
criticized the Aquino II administration for allegedly mistreating former
President Gloria and looking the other way on the issue of the alleged
unexplained wealth of Director General Alan Purisima, chief of the Philippine
National Police (PNP).
Everybody knows P-Noy
is mistreating his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), because he’s
getting back at her for the shabby treatment his family got from the former
president.
After all, everybody
knows the President is vindictive.
But why is Binay
making public his sympathy towards GMA only now? He could have told P-Noy in
private early on that his mistreatment of Gloria does not sit well with many
Filipinos.
And why is the Vice
President pointing an accusing finger at Purisima who, if charges of ill-gotten
against him were true, would be a piker compared to him?
Purisima’s farmhouse
on a 4.7-hectare farm in Nueva Ecija would dwarf the 350-hectare hacienda in
Batangas complete with a man-made lagoon, a cock farm, air-conditioned piggery,
orchids garden, and a maze garden patterned after the Kew Gardens in London and
a big mansion, allegedly owned by Binay.
On the issue of GMA’s
mistreatment, Binay has a point: GMA should be treated with deference on
account of her being a former president and her current position as Pampanga
representative.
But the President is
not under fire for corruption; Binay is. And so Binay’s plaint against P-Noy is
non sequitur or not an issue at all.
Purisima, on the
other hand, faced the Senate committee investigating his alleged hidden wealth.
He heeded the summons of the Senate and endured the scolding of senators to
show he had nothing to hide.
Binay is using his
lofty Office of the Vice President in refusing to heed the invitation. If he
has nothing to hide, why should he not face the Senate like Purisima did?
Binay has taken the
media to task for reporting on the charges of unexplained wealth and plunder of
Makati, saying media should air his side.
But whenever
reporters ask him to comment on charges of corruption hurled against him by his
former subordinates like former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, all the Vice
President can say is “they’re hallucinating.”
Why should he blame
the media when all he does is deny the allegations and let his spokespersons do
the talking?
The fight for
Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and McKinley Hills, an expensive piece of real
estate within the former Fort Bonifacio, is now a three-cornered fight among
Makati City, Taguig City and Pateros.
The smallest and
poorest town in Metro Manila known for its “balut” (unhatched egg) industry,
stakes its claim based on documents which date as far back as 1891.
Former Pateros Vice
Mayor Dominador Rosales Jr. said he has presented documents and land surveys to
the Supreme Court showing that BGC and McKinley Hills fall under the town’s
jurisdiction.
Last year, the
Supreme Court ruled that BGC and McKinley Hills is under Makati City, but
Taguig has asked the high court to reconsider its decision.
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