Grace Poe to Binays: I’m just a phone call away

By: Nestor P. Burgos Jr. - 9 years ago

Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Grace Poe . RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—She’s just a phone call away, Sen. Grace Poe said, addressing the Binays who, she said, have yet to communicate with her despite an earlier offer by Makati Rep. Abigail Binay to reach out to the senator after calling for a stop to the word war between the camp of her father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and the senator.

“My phone (line) is open. We see each other in the Senate. There’s no need to say it in the media,” Poe told reporters when she visited Iloilo on Friday morning.

None of the Binays have personally communicated and reached out to her, the senator added.

Representative Binay had earlier called for a stop to the “heated and emotional” exchange between her father’s supporters and Poe, after Navotas City Rep. and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president Toby Tiangco questioned the senator’s eligibility to run for President or Vice President in the 2016 elections.

READ: Tiangco apologizes for ‘causing damage’ to relationship of Grace Poe, Binays

Tiangco, who had claimed that Poe lacked the required 10-year residency, later issued an apology to Poe and the Binay family for straining their relationship.

The senator accepted Tiangco’s apology and said she was thankful that the UNA official brought up the residency issue.

“It is important that our people know the real issue and compare it with those (confronting) other people who are also planning to run for office,” Poe said.

The senator said she considers her personal ties with the Binays as distinct from her work.

The Vice President was a campaign manager in the 2004 presidential bid of Poe’s father, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.

“I hope (the Binays) understand that our main responsibility, especially since many members of their family are in government, is to our duties. I don’t attack them personally. It’s based on evidence which we examined,” Poe said of the committee report she signed last week with nine other senators, recommending plunder charges against Vice President Binay for the alleged overprice of a Makati parking building.