Senator Francis Escudero and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
THERE was no political discussion between himself and Vice President Jejomar Binay when they met in Davao City, according to Sen. Francis Escudero, who also said that he saw no reason to avoid crossing paths with his rivals in the 2016 national elections.
In a talk with reporters Monday, Escudero said his meeting with Binay over lunch on Sunday posed no danger to his partnership with Sen. Grace Poe, Binay’s main rival for the presidency.
Escudero said his meeting with Binay happened because they were both invited to a restaurant by Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.
He said he and Binay, whom he endorsed for the vice presidency in 2010 but had a parting of ways with in 2013, only talked about the food.
Asked if the meeting was awkward, Escudero said it was not.
“It was a public place, and there is no quarrel between us. We are not on the same side now, but we have not fought,” he said.
He also shrugged off suggestions that the meeting was a betrayal of Poe, saying that it was part of the pitfalls of a campaign.
“Of course, that’s coming from groups that want Senator Grace and I to part ways, but among the [teams], Senator Grace and I have been together and have known each other for a long time compared with the others,” he said.
He said that the claim of betrayal would stick to partnerships that had no deep history.
Escudero also said he saw no reason to avoid rival candidates during the campaign.
Candidates will be invited to many gatherings, and it is inevitable that they will see each other in pre-campaign and campaign activities, he said.
In Davao City, Floirendo said his invitation to Binay and Escudero to have lunch with him on Sunday was “for old times’ sake.”
Floirendo said he had told Binay, who arrived at the Filipino Comfort Food Restaurant around 12:30 p.m., that Escudero was coming and the Vice President replied, “Yes.”
Escudero arrived about 1:30 p.m. and shook hands with Binay, who was seated at the long table with other guests.
But Escudero refused Floirendo’s invitation to sit beside the Vice President and took a chair across from him instead.
Floirendo said the meeting had nothing to do with politics, although he admitted it was an effort on his side to patch things up between the two politicians.
“Both Binay and Escudero are good friends from years back,” Floirendo said. With a report from Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao