Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Whenever any Cabinet member resigns, the usual practice is for his staff members to hand in their courtesy resignations to the president, according to Undersecretary Abigail Valte.
The deputy presidential spokesperson made that observation on Saturday (June 27) in an interview in Kaagapay ng Bayan, a morning radio show aired live on state-run DZRB.
Valte was answering anchor Marie Peña-Ruiz, who asked her whether the staff of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who had just resigned from the Cabinet, should also quit their posts.
Ruiz pointed out that some people had been urging Binay’s employees to step down, specifically those with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), which Binay headed.
“Will the Palace ask them to resign or will you just let them stay there, ma’am?” Ruiz asked in Filipino.
And Valte answered: “My understanding is that it is convention, or it is the norm, that should in any time — and I’m not referring only to the vice president — any time that a Cabinet secretary resigns from a portfolio or a position, it is conventional for his team, the team that he brought in, to also tender their courtesy resignations to the president.”
This, she said, would give the successor to the post a free hand in running the office.
But Valte added: “In this particular case, we would leave it to the people concerned to reflect if this norm will be followed by them.”
Binay, who has made no secret of his intention to run for president in 2016, gave up his Cabinet seat last Monday (June 22).
READ: Binay steps down from Cabinet
Two days later, on Wednesday (June 24), he gave a speech at the Coconut Palace, which serves as the Office of the Vice President, strongly criticizing the Aquino administration.
In that speech, he called the administration “manhid at palpak” — that is, “insensitive and incompetent.”
READ: VP Binay speaks up after Cabinet resignation, slams Aquino administration
On Friday, Binay took another stab at Aquino, saying that his administration wasn’t pro-poor and that he favored his Liberal Party mates, especially when it came to funding.
READ: VP Binay says Aquino favors partymates, administration not pro-poor
The vice president’s barbs surprised supporters of President Benigno Aquino III, whose family has been known to have close ties with Binay.
Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, was the one who put Binay in power shortly after the EDSA People Power Revolution.
In fact, Binay was her first appointed local government official, naming him as officer-in-charge of Makati.
After the vice president’s Coconut Palace speech, Rep. Edgar Erice, a member of the Liberal Party which Aquino heads, called Binay “walang utang na loob” and a “master trapo politician” — that is, an “ingrate” and a “master traditional politician.”
The president himself brushed off Binay’s criticism, saying that the people would know who was telling the truth.
READ: President Aquino to VP Binay: People know who’s telling the truth
During Sunday’s DZRB program, Ruiz asked Valte whether the administration was ready to answer all the accusations made by Binay anytime soon.
And Valte answered: “Huwag namang magtampo kung hindi ho masagot agad kasi marami rin hong trabaho ‘yung administrasyon.”
[Translation: “Don’t feel bad if we can’t answer immediately because the administration has a lot of work to do.]
