Office of the President has nothing to do with privilege speech of Rep. Erice – Coloma

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma

MANILA — Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Sonny Coloma on Sunday clarified that the Office of the President has nothing do with the call of Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice for Vice President Jejomar Binay to resign from the Cabinet and show “his true colors.”

”The Office of the President has no participation in his (Rep. Erice) decision to deliver privilege speech,” Coloma said in radio dzRB interview.

Unless President Benigno Aquino III gives specific statement on the issue, Coloma said the trust and confidence of the President “will remain in his Cabinet members and that include Vice President Binay.”

”The privilege speech is the right of every lawmaker. We respect the decision of Rep. Erice to use this right. He has accountability to his own constituents,” Aquino said.

In his privilege speech, Erice, a member of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), dared the Vice President to quit his post in the Aquino administration after Binay’s camp reportedly claimed that there is a demolition job against him that has been sanctioned by LP.

Binay, who spearheaded the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in the last 2013 elections, is the chairman of the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

The Vice President, also adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) concerns, is eyeing the presidency in the 2016 elections.