Palace to Casiño: It's about propaganda not personal

MALACANANG on Wednesday told Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teddy Casiño not to take the survey remark of President Benigno Aquino III in New Zealand personally.
 
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the remark of the Chief Executive was not a personal attack against Casiño but his view against the leftist groups' propaganda.

"With due respect to Congressman Casiño, don't take it personally. If you view the context of the President’s speech, he was saying that the left has a massive propaganda and if you notice, the propaganda is all about criticizing the government," Lacierda said.

He said the President would want to show that if the propaganda of the leftist group is effective, its candidate should have fared well in the pre-elections survey.
 
"It's not about your parents, it's not about being personal. It's about your propaganda," the Palace official said.
 
Lacierda cited Bayan Muna's criticisms against the administration's conditional cash transfer program and its reported plan to abolish government hospitals, which he said were all not true.
 
"These are the things which would prove their propaganda, it is something that the media would always notice and in spite of the fact that it has widespread attention, the people do not buy into it," he added.
 
In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Aquino reacted to criticisms against his administration's human rights records, saying that the leftist group was "very good at propaganda."

He noted that one senatorial candidate supported by the leftist groups is faring poorly in pre-election surveys for the 2013 midterm polls.

Casiño felt alluded to by the President's remarks for being the lone candidate of the Makabayan Coalition for senator in the 2013 elections.

The party-list legislator said that if his parents were famous like that of Aquino, he would have become the president of the country also.
 
"Let me remind the President that before his mother died, he did not even rate in any survey nor was considered by anyone to be of presidential calibre. In fact, he only became a senator because of his lineage and the heroic efforts of his mother and (father)," Casiño said.

"So before he derides me or any candidate for that matter for rating low in the surveys, he should look at himself first," he added.

Aquino is the only son of the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and the late President Corazon "Cory" Aquino.

Meantime, reacting to Lacierda's statement, Casiño said the President need not worry about him but the families of human rights victims.
 
"It's nothing personal? Don't worry about me. I can shrug off the President's insults anytime. But to dismiss the plight of human rights victims and their families as mere propaganda is personal, painful and dangerous," Casiño said in a text message to reporters.

The Bayan Muna representative said Aquino should be ashamed to the relatives of missing activist Jonas Burgos, murdered environmentalist Gerry Ortega, and the victims of the Tampakan massacre.  
 
"How insensitive of the President. Para namang hindi siya at ang kanyang pamilya ay naging biktima nung panahon ng martial law (Looks like he and his family were not victims of the Martial Law era)," he added. (Jill Beltran/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)