VP Binay quits Aquino’s Cabinet

(Updated 7:29 p.m.) Vice President Jejomar Binay has tendered his resignation from President Benigno Aquino III's Cabinet, a statement from his office said Monday.

According to Joey Salgado, head of the Office of the Vice President media affairs, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, the vice president's daughter, handcarried the resignation letter addressed to Aquino to Malacañang.

"She was accompanied by Undersecretary Benjamin Martinez Jr., chief of staff of the Vice President," Salgado said. "Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa received the letter around 3:55 p.m. at the Office of the Executive Secretary."

Salgado said Binay's resignation was irrevocable and effective immediately.

Binay, who is embroiled in a corruption controversy, is the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers' (OFW) concerns and chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDDC).

Aside from the press release, no other statement was released by Binay's camp. The mobile phones of Salgado and lawyer JV Bautista, interim secretary general of the opposition group United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), were off while Senator Nancy Binay was not answering her phone.

A staff of the senator said they would let the Office of the Vice President make the explanation.

Meanwhile, the new UNA spokesperson, Mon Ilagan, said he has no information on Binay's resignation.

PNoy accepts resignation

President Benigno Aquino III has accepted Binay's resignation from the Cabinet, Malacañang said Monday.

In a statement, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Aquino received Binay's resignation letter on Monday afternoon.

"Secretary [Paquito] Ochoa gave the letter to the President, following which the President called up Vice President Binay to confirm his resignation," Coloma said.

The Palace official added that Ochoa "will formalize acceptance of the Vice President’s resignation."

Tired

Rep. Binay, in a radio interview, said her father resigned from Aquino's Cabinet because he was tired and wanted to be free from the constraints of being part of the administration.
 
She also said her father had been holding back on criticizing the Aquino government because he was part of the Cabinet.
 
"Alam niyo ho yung parang boxing na lagi ka na lang sinusuntok pero di ka makasuntok pabalik? Iyon ho ang sinasabi kong pagod. Ginawa po siyang punching bag," Rep. Binay told radio dzMM.
 
The lawmaker added that VP Binay, the opposition's presumptive presidential bet for the 2016 polls, can now freely speak against the administration now that he has been "liberated."
 
"Ngayon, makakapagbigay sya ng polisiya niya. He can now freely criticize the government kung saan nagkukulang," the vice president's daughter said.

VP Binay's resignation was announced hours after Pulse Asia released the results of its latest survey showing Binay as the most trusted top government official.

Binay, who served as Makati mayor for several terms before running for vice president in 2010, has repeatedly expressed his intention to run for president in the 2016 elections.

Binay to go on the offensive?

Meanwhile, an official of the Aquino-led Liberal Party said Binay's resignation was meant to divert the attention from the corruption issue hounding him.

"He will now use the administration as his punching bag and hit it to his heart's content hoping that that this might divert the corruption issue being lodged at him," said Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, LP's vice president for political affairs.

"He will now gather those opposed to President Aquino, from Marcos to GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) and all those who would want the good all days of traditional politics and fight not for principles but for survival.," he said.

Erice also said Binay resigned because "he is now sure that he will not be endorsed by President Aquino" in the 2016 elections.

"A trapo at heart and mind, VP Binay will now see and say an all 'evil' description of the government that for 5 years he had served," he said.

Senators' reactions

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a critic of the Vice President, saw the resignation as "a very positive political development."

“Finally! This is a very positive political development. Now, there is no more inconsistency in the 'tuwid na daan' slogan of the PNoy administration,” he said.

“More importantly, it can now go all-out against Vice President Binay,” he added.

Trillanes was the one who filed the resolution that initiated the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigation on the corruption allegations against Binay during his stint as Makati City mayor.

Senator Francis Escudero said Binay’s move “signals the so-called gun start of the 2016 elections where the appointed officials begin resigning from their appointive posts in order to concentrate on their respective campaigns.” Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, for his part, said Binay's decision did not surprise him, noting the proximity of the elections. —KBK/NB, GMA News