What transpired during Aquino-Binay meeting
President Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
The meeting in Malacañang between President Noy and Vice President Jejomar Binay was indeed cordial but not jovial as the Binay camp made it appear, my little birdie in the Palace said.
Binay sought the meeting apparently to appease the President after he lambasted the administration for “mistreating” former President Gloria and looking the other way on the issue of the alleged unexplained wealth of National Police Chief Alan Purisima.
“Cordial, yes, but jovial? I doubt if it was jovial. The President was in a serious mien when he talked with the Vice President,” said my little birdie.
Binay, my source said, was made to wait long before P-Noy saw him.
The wait was much longer than the meeting.
“Probably, the Vice President waited for two and a half hours while the meeting lasted only 30 minutes,” the little birdie said, denying the Binay camp claim that the length of the conversation between the President and Vice President was three hours.
What did P-Noy and Binay talk about?
Binay made two requests to the President, said the little birdie.
Binay, according to my source, asked the President to stop the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee which is investigating the reported gross overprice in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II built when the Vice President was still the city mayor.
This was the gist of the President’s reply to Binay’s request No. 1:
“Jojo, I cannot stop the investigation because the Senate is independent. Besides, I have so many problems—the possible spread of the deadly Ebola virus brought by returning overseas workers, the Subic murder case, the evacuation of residents near the Mayon Volcano. Pati ba naman ’yan, poproblemahin ko pa (Do I have to solve your problem)?”
Or words to that effect.
Binay’s second request: For the President to take it easy on Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The President, according to my source, showed his irritation by giving Binay a wry smile.
My source said that after Binay left, P-Noy told his staff: “If there are more cases to be filed against GMA, let’s file them.”
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If what the Palace source told me is all true, the meeting that Binay sought with the President was a desperate act.
Why would he ask the President to stop the Senate investigation, where his family’s incredible hidden wealth has been exposed by his detractors, when as a lawyer he knows full well that Malacañang cannot dictate on a coequal body?
Binay’s request No. 2—for the President to go easy on GMA—is puzzling.
Why is he taking the cudgels for Gloria when, as he claimed, he was once a victim of harassment by the previous administration?
Binay has never known to be magnanimous.
Why is he making the request only now when he could have done so after a Cabinet meeting in the past?
Remember, Binay, being presidential adviser on the concerns of the overseas workers and on housing for the poor, is a Cabinet member.
The answer to the puzzle is Binay probably didn’t know how to go about appeasing the President after kicking him from behind.
So he had to have talking points for seeking an audience with P-Noy, whose mother, the late President Cory, made him. Hence, the foolish requests.
