Senator Francis Escudero and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero immediately dismissed speculations on Monday that he betrayed Senator Grace Poe when he met with Vice President Jejomar Binay at a restaurant in Davao City over the weekend.
Escudero said he suspects that this kind of rumor circulating on social media was only created by groups who want to sow a rift between him and Poe.
“Siyempre nanggagaling ‘yan sa mga grupong nais paghiwalayin kami ni Senator Grace dahil sa totoo lang, sa lahat ng mga katambalan, kami siguro ni Sen. Grace ang may pinakamahabang pinag-samahan, pinamakatagal nag sama at magkakilala kumpara sa ibang mga tandem…” he told reporters.
But Escudero said he and Binay were just both invited over lunch Sunday by the owner of a restaurant in Davao City where they met and that they did not talk politics during their brief meeting.
“Wala. Pagkain nga lang e. Ang eksaktong conversation, ‘Good afternoon, kumain ka na ba? Tapos na, ako kakain, di pa kumakain. O, bakit may kare-kare dyan? Kami kanina wala. O, bakit may sinampalukan dyan? Kami kanina wala…’” he said when asked what they talked about.
The senator denied reports that the meeting was done in a private room and that it was supposedly meant to patch his differences with Binay.
Asked if he felt awkward meeting the vice president, the senator said: “Hindi naman kasi publikong lugar yun at wala naman kaming pinag-awayan. Hindi lang kami magkakampi ngayon, pero wala kaming pinag-awayan.”
Escudero backed Binay’s vice presidential bid in 2010, but they went separate ways when the vice president dropped the senator from its senatorial ticket in 2013.
Escudero was among the three independent candidates—along with Poe and Senator Loren Legarda — who ran under the Liberal Party-led coalition in 2013 and were dropped from the ticket of the United Nationalist Alliance being headed by Binay.
When asked if Poe had asked him about the meeting, Escudero said: “Nagtanong at nakwento ko rin naman sa kanya kasi lumabas na din naman sa balita e, at ‘di rin naman tinago,” he said.