Escudero denies betrayal rumors: ‘Poe is safe with me’
Running mates Senators Grace Poe and Francis “Chiz” Escudero during a school visit at Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ARNOLD ALMACEN
Vice presidential candidate Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Friday said his tandem with Sen. Grace Poe was the “closest” among all other pairs vying for the two highest political posts in the upcoming May polls.
Reacting to allegations that he would drop Poe along the way amid the citizenship and residency issues hounding the latter’s presidential bid, Escudero turned the tables on other presidential and vice presidential tandems, saying they only got to know each other upon pairing up for the elections, contrary to his “deep relationship” with his running mate.
“Sa lahat ng tandem, kami na siguro ang may pinakamahaba at pinakamalalim na pinagsamahan,” Escudero said over radio station DZMM.
(Among all the tandems, I think we have the longest and deepest relationship.)
READ: Escudero dismisses rumors he betrayed Poe after meeting with Binay
“Si Secretary Mar (Roxas) at Congresswoman Leni (Robredo) kamakailan lang yata naging close, si Mayor (Rodrigo) Duterte at Senator Alan (Cayetano) ganun din. Si Vice President (Jejomar) Binay at Senator (Gringo) Honasan, dati pa ngang magkaaway,” he added.
(Secretary Mar and Congresswoman Leni got close only recently. The same can be said about Mayor Duterte and Senator Alan. Vice President Binay and Senator Honasan used to be enemies.)
Escudero dismissed the accusations of lacking loyalty and tendency of betrayal as mere “black propaganda.”
“Ligtas siya sa akin at ligtas ako sa kanya (She is safe with me, and I with her),” Escudero said.
READ: Poe shrugs off Binay-Escudero chance meeting
Questions regarding Escudero’s loyalty surfaced in 2010, when he was credited for the victory of Vice President Jejomar Binay over administration bet Mar Roxas for the vice presidency after endorsing the “NoyBi” tandem.
Escudero severed ties with Binay in the 2013 midterm elections after the opposition leader’s United Nationalist Alliance dropped him and Poe from its Senate slate.
Speculations that he might have secretly forged alliance with Binay arose recently following the circulation of “Binay-Chiz” car stickers. But the senator dismissed the accusations as a product of gossips and hearsays.
READ: Poe’s party: Escudero has no secret deal with Binay
“Galing sa mga tsismoso (Rumor-mongers concocted this),” he said. IDL
