PHILIPPINE Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday, June 22, submitted his irrevocable resignation from the Cabinet of President Benigno Aquino III. His resignation is effective immediately, the Office of the Vice President confirmed.
Binay, who was chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers’ concerns, had long been called by Aquino’s party mates to resign particularly given his criticism of certain administration policies.
As a member of a Cabinet dominated by the ruling Liberal Party, Binay had felt like “the odd man out” and “awkward,” according to the vice president’s spokespersons in the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
With his exit, Binay is now able to openly attack the Aquino administration, and consolidate and lead the opposition.
During a news forum on Tuesday, June 23, Sen. JV Ejercito said the opposition became weak and was without a leader while Binay was a member of the Aquino Cabinet.
“Vice President Binay could not really speak freely. Hindi siya pwedeng direktang magsalita laban sa administrasyon dahil, of course, he is part of the cabinet (He could not directly speak against the administration because, of course, he is part of the cabinet),” Ejercito said.
In November last year, Aquino said Binay could leave his Cabinet following a comment the Vice President made about the administration “still not doing things right” after more than four years.
Aquino, who has not always accepted resignations from Cabinet officials, accepted the one tendered by Binay. In 2013, the President rejected one from Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla and did the same with Budget Secretary Florencio Abad’s offer to step down in 2014.
Ejercito said that Binay had every reason to quit.
“It will be hard or awkward to serve the cabinet knowing that the president’s allies are the ones plotting against him,” Ejercito said.
Joey Salgado, head of media affairs of the Office of the Vice President, said in a statement issued Monday that Binay’s resignation was hand-delivered by Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, one of the vice president’s daughters. She was accompanied by Undersecretary Benjamin Martinez, Binay’s chief of staff.
Tired of being a punching bag
In an interview with radio dzMM, Binay’s daughter said her father resigned because he was tired of and “holding back” from the hits he was receiving from the cabinet and wanted to be liberated from the constraints of involvement in the administration.
One investigation conducted by a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee made up of administration allies put a dent in Binay’s popularity as a front-runner in the 2016 presidential elections. The probe alleged that Binay amassed wealth through kickbacks and shady deals during his term as mayor of Makati City.
“Alam ninyo ho iyong parang boxing na lagi ka na lang sinusuntok pero ‘di ka makasuntok pabalik? Iyon ho ang sinasabi kong pagod. Ginawa po siyang punching bag (You know in boxing when you always get punched but you can’t punch back? That’s the kind of tired I’m talking about. They made him a punching bag),” Makati Rep. Abigail Binay said.
“Ngayon, makakapagbiga sya ng polisiya niya. He can now freely criticize the government kung saan nagkukulang (Now he can make his own policies. He can now freely criticize the government for its shortcomings),” she added.
Now that Binay no longer has any Cabinet duties, he will have more room to gather “evil forces” from the regimes of Ferdinand Marcos to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice, according to Inquirer.
“He will now use the administration as his punching bag and hit it to his heart’s content hoping that this might divert the corruption issue being thrown [against] him. A trapo at heart and mind, VP Binay will now see and say an all-evil description of the government that he had served for five years,” Erice said.
Abigail declined to comment on whether her father’s resignation involved a falling out with Aquino, though she clarified that there are no bad feelings between the Binay and Aquino families.
“Personally, I think it is not with President P-Noy but the terrible attacks against my brother and our family. That is what has affected him and not because he is angry or has a personal issue with P-Noy,” Abigail said, according to Inquirer.
An expected resignation
Binay’s move did not come as a surprise to many, including former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who said the “inevitable has happened.”
“He’s been pilloried and scorned for quite a long while, mostly by allies of the ruling party, if not the members of the ruling party, and he has scorned them back on some occasion. So it’s not surprising at all that he finally did what is logical and expected,” Lacson said.
Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas expressed a similar sentiment, attributing it to the fact that Binay already made clear his intention to run for president next year.
“In 2013, he headed UNA, which fielded opposition candidates against the administration,” Treñas said. “I felt it was only a question of time that he was resigning from the Cabinet to officially and formally assume the position of head of the opposition party and be its official candidate for president.”
The resignation was welcomed by other politicians, including Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a Binay critic.
“Finally! This is a very positive political development. Now, there is no more inconsistency in the ‘tuwid na daan’ (straight path) slogan of the P-Noy administration,” he said.
Earlier this month, Binay openly stated he was still hoping for Aquino’s endorsement in the upcoming presidential elections, despite their leading of different political parties. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Monday said Binay’s resignation demonstrates that he has let go of hopes for such an endorsement.
“It’s only proper from him to do it. It leaves him free to criticize the administration. It also shows that he has given up on hopes for PNoy’s endorsement based on past friendship,” Belmonte said in a text message, according to GMA News.
Binay leaving the Cabinet should not be perceived as an abandonment of his duties, said Parañaque City Rep. Gustavo Tambunting, a member of the UNA.
“[His resignation] should be seen as his effort to make a distinction between him and his administration. This will also quell any talk about him using government resources during the upcoming campaign,” Tambunting said. (With reports from ABS-CBN News, CNN, GMA News, Inquirer, Interaksyon, Philstar and Rappler)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek June 24 – 26, 2015 Sec A pg.1)
