Binay’s ‘poor boy’ image must translate to integrity and transparency

Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay visits the people of Silay City in Bacolod (Photo courtesy of Binay’s Official Facebook Page)

MANILA — Akbayan Party-list Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez III over the weekend has joined mounting calls for Vice President Jejomar Binay to answer allegations of corruptions against him, challenging Binay to “vindicate his poor-boy-sad-story with transparency and integrity” as the VP goes full gear with his campaign sorties around the country.

Gutierrez said the VP should start answering point by point the questionable dealings he was involved in as mayor of Makati, because only then he could make the people believe that his intentions to be President were clean.

He pointed out that the vice president kept on saying that he would do for the entire Philippines what he did in Makati, and that was precisely the point since he did a lot of questionable things in Makati, the country needs to be clarified.

“Maraming anomalya na kailangan sagutin; di ba nga sabi nya kung pwede sa Makati, pwede din sa buong bansa, dapat ma-qualify ito at malinaw” Gutierrez said.

“We cannot allow unanswered allegations from Makati shroud the entire country, if he is running away from his past and try to hide what he did wrong in Makati then he should run alone, wag nyang idamay ang buong bayan,” he added.

According to Gutierrez,for the past few days, VP Binay has been harping about his storied poor boy past but for him to be regarded as a good leader he has to be transparent as well of his present doings.

The Akbayan solon explained that “our country cannot afford a leader who merely appeals to emotions and drama, we need a leader with proven integrity and who is transparent about his past, his present and about what he intends to do in the future.

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“Many admire his story, rising from poverty and all, but all great leaders are shaped by what they did afterwards, after rising from poverty, and so far the VP has been silent about his unexplained wealth and it is difficult to trust his kind of leadership,” he said in his press statement.

He insisted that “someone proposing to lead this country cannot just erase a phase of his story and refuse to answer for things he may have done in the past”.

The lawmaker clarified that Binay “cannot employ dagdag-bawas in his campaign messaging”, urging the vice president to be more transparent.

“The VP lambasted the Department of Health recently, citing what he did in Makati in terms of health services for his constituents when he was mayor, but what he should be doing is to address his issues first like the AMLA report, overpricing of local infrastructure projects when he was mayor,” Gutierrez said.

The human rights lawyer turned politician said he agreed that “there are good things VP Binay did for Makati which is part of his job as mayor but there are a number of questionable things which he must explain to the people as part of his public duty and responsibility as vice president and because he plans to run for higher office.”