Home 
MANILA, Philippines ? Now that it?s training its guns on Senator Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III, Malacañang has recognized the candidate that could pose the ?strongest threat? to the administration party?s bid in the May 2010 elections, according to a spokesman for the Liberal Party, where the senator is a member.
?The potshots of Malacañang just acknowledges the fact that they recognize Noynoy as their strongest threat because Noynoy is the complete opposite of what the administration is doing or stands for,? Quezon province Representative Lorenzo Tañada III said in a text message Friday.
Tañada was reacting to statements by Palace officials telling Aquino to ?be a man? and not seek the presidency at the expense ?of this little lady who?s done her best for this country in the last eight years.?
When he announced his candidacy Wednesday, Aquino criticized the President, his former economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, for ?forgetting what she had taught me.? Aquino assured there would be more efficient use of government resources should he win the presidency.
Tañada said the tirades hurled by Malacañang against the senator was reminiscent of the demolition job that then president Ferdinand Marcos did against Aquino?s mother, the late Corazon Aquino, a simple housewife then, who challenged the dictator for the presidency.
Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon, another LP officer, branded Malacañang?s criticisms as ?cheap potshots? because they have nothing to throw against Aquino.
?They have nothing to throw against Noynoy, especially [when it comes to] his integrity, so they resort to below the belt rhetorics,? he said in a separate text message.
Biazon challenged critics to look thoroughly into Aquino?s records in the House of Representatives, where he served as Tarlac Representative for nine years.
?But beyond the bills he filed in Congress, Noynoy Aquino stood up for the truth and righteousness in the House, even at the expense of being punished with removal from his position as Deputy Speaker, unlike others who chose to smother the truth at a time when the public was clamoring for it,? Biazon said.
Palace deputy spokesman Gary Olivar said the 2010 election was not a battle between good and evil.
?It?s easy to talk about that ?good vs evil,?? he said on Thursday. ?Let?s be very careful about that. We?re supposed to be maturing politically as a nation. We should leave that kind of framework behind.?
