MANILA, Philippines – The Palace on Saturday, July 11, lambasted Vice President Jejomar Binay for claiming that President Benigno Aquino III failed to treat him well in the Cabinet.

“Limang taon siyang nandoon sa Gabinete. Kailan siya binastos ni Pangulong Aquino? Ni minsan hindi ho siya binastos,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in an interview over state-run dzRB. 

(He was in the Cabinet for 5 years. When was President Aquino rude to him? Not once was the President rude to him.)

“He has treated him as his Vice President,” Lacierda said.

For one, Aquino “never treated him any differently from any other Cabinet secretary.”  

He said Aquino even gave Binay positions in the Cabinet. The Vice President was presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers’ concerns and also chairman of the  Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

“He has been given so much to work on and yet, despite this, after serving the Cabinet and because he wants to run for the presidency, all he does after announcing his presidential run is to lambast the President. It’s very unbecoming of a public official to speak ill of a President who has treated him very well in the highest possible manner,” Lacierda said.

He added that Binay initially “praised the Aquino administration for the handling of the economy.” 

“Now, he hits our President for the handling of the economy,” Lacierda said. “Let me ask Vice President Binay: Are you lying then or are you lying now? So which is which?…Will the real Vice President show up?”

‘Barking up wrong tree’

This is the latest in the word war between Binay and Palace officials after the Vice President resigned from Aquino’s Cabinet on June 22. (READ: Binay hits Aquino’s ‘lazy, teka-teka’ government) 

Binay is one of the leading choices for president in 2016, the other one being Senator Grace Poe. He is not one of Aquino’s possible bets. (READ: The Scrum: VP Binay should stop listening to his family)

In his radio interview Saturday, Lacierda also dared Binay to answer corruption allegations against him. 

He said Binay should stop hitting Aquino for a resolution issued by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales suspending his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr.  

Because of the Ombudsman’s suspension order, the younger Binay “temporarily” stepped down from office on July 1.

He said: “Why is he attacking the administration for a resolution issued by the Ombudsman? If he has any problem with the Ombudsman, talk to the Ombudsman, consult the Ombudsman, face the Ombudsman, and stop attacking the President because we did not do the resolution.”

Lacierda told Binay, “You’re barking up the wrong tree.” – Rappler.com