Aquino ill-advised on Tokyo meeting, says Escudero

MANILA, Philippines—Senator  Francis Escudero  slammed President Benigno Aquino’s secret meeting  with Murad Ebrahim in Japan, saying the  President might have been   “ill-advised” to personally meet with the Moro rebel leader.

“I think the President may have been ill-advised to meet personally as he is not even his counterpart,” Escudero said on Thursday.

It  might not  be a good tactic also for the  President, Escudero said,  to negotiate with  them.

Aquino and Ebrahim met for two hours on Thursday in Tokyo, where they agreed to speed up efforts on achieving peace in Mindanao.

Escudero then turned to presidential adviser  on peace process Teresita Deles, who he said  should protect the  President.

“She (Deles) should just do her job and give her president deniability with respect to this early stages of the  negotiations,”  Escudero added.