VICE President Jejomar Binay, who recently re-emerged as the top choice for president in this year’s elections, was booed on Sunday by some attendees to the Sinulog Festival who were part of the Liberal Party contingent.
“The alleged booing came from some attendees, and we have received reports it came from the LP contingent,” said Joey Salgado, head of Binay’s Media Affairs Office.
“If this is true, it’s just unfortunate that they behaved the way they did. But we understand where they were coming from.”
Binay on Sunday urged his United Arab Emirates-based fraternity brothers to continue helping him push reforms and find ways to make the poor benefit from the nation’s macroeconomic progress.
He said he hoped nobody from among his countrymen would be forced to leave to work abroad.
“I wish that, just like you, they will leave the country to enhance their capabilities,” Binay said during the General Membership Meeting and Fellowship Night of the Alpha Phi Omega UAE ’96 & APO EMARAT 121 on Wednesday.
Salgado said they knew that the people who booed Binay felt bad because Binay was leading even in the Visayas.
After a decline in his standing in the surveys, Binay bounced back and even widened his lead over his strongest rival Senator Grace Poe as shown in the latest Social Weather Stations survey.
The Jan. 8-10 pre-election survey showed Binay, the opposition’s standard bearer, was the top choice for president of 31 percent of the 1,200 validated voters nationwide.
Binay, who is running under the United Nationalist Alliance, registered a five-point gain in his rating from 26 percent in December. He was followed by Poe with 24 percent, down from 26 percent; Liberal Party bet Manuel Roxas II with 21 percent from 22 percent, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 20 percent.
Salgado said those who booed Binay could have respected the occasion.
He said there was nothing new in Binay’s presence in the Sinulog festival because he had been attending it since 2010.
“The tweet from a newspaper is inaccurate,” said Salgado who explained that Binay was not scheduled to give a speech.
“He will just open the event by saying ‘Viva Senyor Sto. Niño,’ which he has always been doing,” Salgado said.
The report said Binay was booed after he was introduced by suspended Mayor Mike Rama during the formal opening of the Sinulog Grand Parade past 9 a.m. at the Cebu City Sports Center, where there were close to 10,000 people.
The report also said the boos grew louder when Binay stood to give a speech, but Salgado said there was no speech.
Binay attended the occasion with his vice presidential candidate, Senator Gringo Honasan and senatorial candidates Princess Kiram, Alma Moreno and Harry Roque, as well as his son suspended Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay.
He and his group proceeded to the media center for breakfast, and after breakfast he went back to the VIP section of the grandstand to continue watching the presentation on stage.