Binay ‘sad’ over Korina’s tirades

MANILA, Philippines – Coming from Iran, Vice President Jejomar Binay immediately addressed reportedly “unethical” remarks by broadcaster Korina Sanchez about him and his previous preference for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Binay, who arrived in the Philippines on Saturday, September 1, had said he wants the DILG portfolio before the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo was appointed to the post in 2010. President Benigno Aquino III announced Robredo’s replacement on Friday, August 31.

Sanchez’s husband, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, got Robredo’s post while Binay was away. Roxas was also Binay’s closest opponent in the 2010 vice presidential race.

In a letter to ABS-CBN, Binay’s camp has complained about Sanchez’s comment that “dark, little monsters” (“mga maiitim at maliliit na maligno”) wanted the position before Robredo got it, according to a report on the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday. The Vice President’s spokesperson, Joey Salgado, said Binay felt alluded to.

“Nakakalungkot. Sana mabago na ang klase ng pulitika natin. Tapos na naman ‘yung 2010,” Binay himself told reporters upon his arrival. (It’s sad. I hope we can change our type of politics. After all, 2010 is over.)

Binay came from the 16th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran, Iran when he addressed the media.

‘Personal attack’

Earlier, Binay’s camp denounced Sanchez’s remarks as a “personal attack” and a “breach of broadcasting standards and ethics.”

“We are certain that Mrs Sanchez-Roxas will claim, in her defense, that she did not name the Vice President and she had used the article ‘mga’ to refer to several unnamed individuals. To us, this is a flimsy defense,” Binay’s camp said, according to the Inquirer.

“It is public knowledge that before Robredo’s appointment, Vice President Binay had expressed his preference for the said position because of his background in local governance… No other personality was reported as having expressed interest in the said position,” said Binay’s camp.

This is not the first time that Binay complained about Sanchez’s broadcast ethics. In March 2011, the Vice President also complained to ABS-CBN that Sanchez was deliberately omitting his name in her spiels. – Rappler.com