A Tale of Two SONAs: PNoy’s and Binay’s

Vice President Jojo Binay (left) and President Benigno Aquino III (Binay photo courtesy of the Office of the Vice President; Aquino photo from Malacanang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — President Benigno Aquino III (PNoy) delivered his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday afternoon, but Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay believes that he will give the “true SONA.”

“In his True SONA, Vice President Jejomar Binay will remove the gloss and tell the plain truth as experienced every day by ordinary Filipinos,” Binay’s spokesperson for political affairs Atty. Rico Quicho said in an INQUIRER report Tuesday.

Quicho also clarified that Binay does not think that he was the one that PNoy was referring to the part of the SONA where Aquino talked about a staunch critic of the administration.

“Mabagal daw tayo. Kapag sila raw ang naging Pangulo, sigurado, gaganda ang buhay. Sa mga medyo may edad po, ang isasagot dito, ‘Ah, ganun?’ sabay taas ng kilay. Para naman sa kabataan, iba na raw po ang tugon nila sa ganoong pahayag, iba na daw po ang uso ngayon eh: ‘E di wow,’” PNoy said in front of 2,700 attendees inside the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

“The Vice President does not feel alluded to because he has solidly delivered the social and economic programs that uplifted the lives of the people he has served as Makati mayor and continue to serve as Vice President,” Quicho said in response to the statement above.

PNoy also said in his SONA, “Ang tanong natin: Paano nila gagawin ang mga pangakong iyan? Ang sagot nila: Basta. Nasaan ang detalye at kongkretong mga plano? Basta. Paano ninyo ipatutupad ang inyong mga pangako? Basta. Pakiramdam yata nila nadadaan sa basta-basta ang solusyon sa ating mga problema.”

To this, Quicho said, “From the start, the Vice President has articulated that the Makati experience is his template for a caring and competent government, the opposite of the manhid at palpak (insensitive and failing) government that we have today… It is a small price to pay for showing the people the palpak at manhid governance of the administration that further marginalized the poor.”

“Merong isang bahagi doon palagay ko hindi naman ako pinatutungkulan ‘nun. Kasi ang pagkakasabi meron diyan nagsasalita na giginhawa ang bayan pero ang salita lagi ay basta, basta. Wow na wow naman ‘yun!” Binay was quoted saying in an ABS-CBN report.

Binay advised the media to wait for his true SONA, which also aims to answer Aquino’s allusions.

“The SONA [by PNoy] exhibited hubris and lack of appreciation for people in government who genuinely served despite the air of partisanship created by a vindictive and callous government,” Quicho said.

In his sixth and last SONA, PNoy expressed his gratitude by thanking each member of his Cabinet and by sharing words of appreciation to his family and even his personal hair stylist, fashion consultant, and househelper Yolly Yebes.

Binay was not mentioned.