Tiangco twits Roxas for touting ‘tuwid na daan’, cites ‘selective’ prosecution under PNoy

Vice President Jejomar Binay's United Nationalist Alliance on Thursday lashed back at Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II for telling a broadsheet that he is bothered by the possibility that a Binay presidency might spell the end of “tuwid na daan (straight path).”

 

UNA interim president and Navotas City Rep. Tobias “Toby” Tiangco said the Aquino administration’s supposed straight path is “a lie” because of its selective pursuit of justice.

 

"Ang totoo ay [mayroong] 'Baluktot na Daan'. Ang katotohanan ay binabaluktot. 'Pag ikaw ay kalaban ng Liberal Party, ang katotohan ay babaluktutin para palabasin na ikaw ay may kasalanan. 'Pag ikaw ay kakampi ng LP, ang katotohanan ay binabaluktot para pagtakpan ang katiwalian ng kakampi’ he said in a statement.

 

Tiangco said Roxas should not claim to be worried about the continuation of good governance since “one of the biggest allegations of corruption” at the Department of Transportation and Communication supposedly happened during his watch as head of the agency.

 

Earlier this year, Rychtar claimed that top officials of the Metro Rail transit (MRT) attempted to extort $30 million from Czech company Inekon Group in exchange for the contract to supply 48 trains for the MRT-3 expansion. The first extortion attempt supposedly took place over a dinner on July 9, 2012.

Roundtable

 

In a roundtable discussion with reporters and editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Tuesday, Roxas was asked if he is bothered by the possibility of a Binay presidency since the vice president has long said he means to run for president in 2016.

 

Roxas was quoted as saying: “I am bothered by the possibility that 'daang matuwid' will not continue.”

 

However, Roxas said he is confident that the people will make the right decision in 2016 because the Filipino electorate has become smarter and more discerning.

 

Roxas has been touted as LP’s likely standard bearer in 2016 although he has yet to announce his plans. He ran for vice president in the 2010 elections but lost to Binay.

 

Taking a page from Roxas, Tiangco said Filipino voters are not only smart, but also know who is sincere about helping them,adding Binay "has spent all his life with the poor."  

 

Binay, the frontrunner in the latest pre-election surveys, has been implicated in corruption scandals ranging from his reported involvement in the overpricing of Makati City infrastructure programs when he was still city mayor. He is also accused of owning pricey properties in the province and using dummies to hide them.

 

The vice president’s camp has dismissed the allegations against Binay as “baseless” and part of a supposed smear campaign to hurt his chances in the 2016 elections. — JDS, GMA News