Why Binay got off the stage during Edsa rites

MANILA, Philippines – Why did Vice President Jejomar Binay leave the stage during the 29th anniversary of the People Power 1 revolt on Wednesday?

The Vice President was told to leave the group of President Benigno Aquino III and Cabinet secretaries, who were on the stage during the wreath-laying ceremony at the People Power Monument on White Plains Avenue in Quezon City.

After the short ceremony, Binay told reporters not to make a controversy out of this.

“Eh napag-utusan akong bumaba. Ang nasa isip ko naman siguro dahil kasama ako sa martsa. Eh kung nandoon naman ako sa taas, ang lalabas lang nandoon ako dahil sa Vice President ako,” he said in an ambush interview.

The march Binay was talking about was the “Unity Walk” of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines to show the solidarity between the two beleaguered organizations.

“Nasa baba ang unity walk so this was equivalent to the salubong. Taon-taon sumasama ako sa salubong,” he said.

The unity walk was the reenactment of the meeting of then Philippine Constabulary chief Fidel Ramos and Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile that signaled the uprising against dictator president Ferdinand Marcos.

Meanwhile, Binay, who had expressed intention to run for president in the 2016 elections, was sought for comment on calls for Aquino to step down over the Mamasapano incident that killed 44 policemen.

“Ah, hindi ako kasama dyan… I just hope the President can work out this problem the soonest,” he said.

Critics are pointing to Aquino as the “mastermind” of the botched operation that got Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, killed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao but exacted heavy casualties on the side of the PNP Special Action Force that mounted the covert operation without sufficient coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.