Binay ‘evades’ faceoff with rivals

Vice President Jejomar Binay apparently suggested to change the format of a presidential forum Tuesday so he would not appear on stage with other presidential rivals such as Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Mar Roxas.

The moderator in the forum organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, broadcast journalist Coco Alcuaz, said the Vice President requested that candidates are called up one by one, instead of the original plan that all three candidates deliver their opening statements before an open forum.

“I have two programming notes before we begin. We’re looking forward to having called participants here at the same time. But on the request of VP Binay, which all participants agreed to, we’ll be having candidates come on stage one by one,” Alcuaz, a former ANC business anchor, said.

A copy of the program showed that the original plan was for the three presidential aspirants Binay, Roxas, and Santiago, to deliver their opening statements first before an open forum. The three presidentiables would then deliver their closing statements after the open forum.

Alcuaz said the new format will be “for each candidate (to) give an opening statement and answer questions from me, and give the closing statements, and we go on to the next candidate.”

Binay refused to answer questions from reporters after his turn to appear on stage.

His spokesperson Rico Quicho also referred the explanation to the organizers instead. TVJ