Senator Estrada most likely to be Binay’s VP bet in 2016, says Nancy

Senator Nancy Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is in a favored position to clinch the running mate berth in Vice President Jejomar Binay’s anticipated presidential ticket in 2016, according to Binay’s daughter, Sen. Nancy Binay.

The senator made the remark on Tuesday after her father disclosed his plan to form a new party after bolting PDP-Laban, the party that he had belonged to from the time he became the mayor of Makati in 1986.

“Senator Jinggoy has an edge because since 2010, even before 2010, we were already together. Even during the time of Mayor Erap [Joseph Estrada] when he was still president, and then when FPJ [Fernando Poe Jr.] ran,” Nancy Binay told reporters.

“We have been together through thick and thin,” she added.

Told that the Vice President had said that he wanted an economist for a running mate, Nancy Binay said: “I think Senator Jinggoy is a graduate of… based on what I know, the UP School of Economics.”

Estrada, meanwhile, reiterated his offer to Binay to assume the presidency of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), the political party organized by his father, the deposed president and convicted plunderer Joseph Estrada, who is now mayor of Manila.

“I’m sure the PMP will merge with the political party that will be formed by [Vice President]. But if I could have my way, my offer still stands. He can take the presidency of the PMP anytime,” Estrada said.

Told of Vice President Binay’s preference for an economist for a running mate, Estrada laughed.

“I’m a graduate of economics.  No, I’m just joking. I’m not saying that will be me,” he said.

Nancy Binay said her father has been considering forming a new party although there have been suggestions that the Vice President just use the Lakas ng Bansa, or the Laban part of the party.

She explained that PDP-Laban was a merger of the Partido Demokratiko ng Pilipinas of former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Laban, of which Binay was a member.

“So there are people from Laban who are saying why not just use Laban. But at the moment, what’s being studied is to form a new political party,” Nancy Binay said.

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