Palace refutes VP’s dictatorship claims

Vice President Jejomar Binay’s allegation that President Aquino’s pitch for the continuity of daang matuwid or the straight path policy is a form of dictatorship defies logic, Malacañang said yesterday.

Officials pointed out the Aquino administration was preparing for credible elections and smooth transition after the end of the Chief Executive’s term in June next year.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the need for the straight path and good governance to continue beyond the term of Aquino was crucial for the country to achieve sustained growth, whoever would be elected into office in 2016.

Coloma said Filipinos would be the ones voting next year and results would show whether the straight path policy being espoused by the President and the Liberal Party was acceptable to them.

Coloma earlier branded Binay’s “true State of the Nation Address” as politics of despair versus the politics of hope offered by the President.

Coloma implied Binay was also confusing the public with his statements that the administration was laying the groundwork for dictatorship.

“President Aquino’s clarion

call to our bosses is to continue to support the straight path so that the transformation of Philippine society that has been built on good governance during his administration may be brought to its full fruition,” Coloma said.

“Like his parents, the President is a staunch advocate of democracy, in which the most important element is the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another through the conduct of orderly and credible elections,” he added.

Coloma stressed the straight path policy was anchored on the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, which toppled the Marcos dictatorship and installed Aquino’s mother, the late Corazon Aquino, as president and who became a democracy icon.

The President himself said he was not interested in extending his term and that clean and peaceful elections would be one of his legacies.

Coloma also said Binay’s claim that Aquino destroyed rather than strengthened institutions to nurture democracy was baseless because the government had always been open, transparent and accountable.

“This is the mark of a vibrant democracy being made stronger by the people who are free,” Coloma said.

Coloma further emphasized that contrary to Binay’s pronouncements, the budget for the judiciary had been increased to institute reforms and the administration had supported all legislative initiatives related to this.

The prosecutorial arm of the Department of Justice was also improved, alongside the criminal justice system as well as the prison or correction system, Coloma said.

In the last five years, Malacañang also respected the Office of the Vice President of Binay and provided him the necessary recognition and assistance to be effective in his job.

And the people know very well that Binay never raised the criticisms he was now throwing against the administration in the five years that he served as member of the Cabinet, Coloma said.

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