Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The camp of Manila mayor Joseph Estrada confirms that there’s a possibility of a team-up with Vice President Jejomar Binay for the 2016 polls — with the former president taking a backseat as vice president.
Angel Gonong from Estrada’s media office told CNN Philippines on Friday (June 5) that Erap — as Estrada is popularly known — remained open to the idea of running for the second highest office of the land.
But this would depend on a number of conditions. One of which would be who will he be playing second fiddle to.
“Pwede siyang tumakbong VP, ang tanong, kanino? Hindi pa siya sigurado kung kanino,” Gonong said.
[He can run as VP, but the question is, to whom? He is not yet sure who he will running as vice president to.]
This developed after Binay told reporters in Biliran that a repeat of the Estrada-Binay tandem could happen again next year but with a major difference: he will now be the one running for president.
“Hindi na Erap-Binay, Binay-Erap na,” Binay said — adding that such a team-up would aptly be coined as “BEst” which would stand for “Binay-Estrada.”
[This time, it’s not going to be Erap-Binay, but a Binay-Erap tandem instead.]
Binay said he expected Estrada to be amenable to the new set-up.
In 2010, Binay ran as Estrada’s vice-president. He won, but Estrada placed only second and lost to then Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III for the presidency.
Another condition, Gonong said, was that Estrada would not be running against Senator Grace Poe if she decided to also seek the vice presidency.
“Pag tumakbo si Grace, hindi ko pababayaan ang anak ng best friend ko,” Gonong said quoting Estrada.
[Should Senator Grace Poe run for vice president, I will back her up because she is the daughter of my best friend.]
Poe is the daughter of Estrada’s long-time best buddy, the late Fernando Poe Jr. or FPJ, dubbed as “Da King” of Philippine movies.
But Gonong clarified that for now, everything remained fluid — if not in the realm of speculation — since Estrada’s priority was to run for reelection as mayor.
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Meanwhile, President Aquino told reporters in Japan also on Friday that he will definitely leave public office come 2016.
Aquino made the statement after news reports came out indicating that he was open to run again next year — for a lower position.
Reports also came out saying that he might run as vice president to his pal and party-mate, Interior Sec. Mar Roxas.
Just like Estrada and Binay, Aquino and Roxas were in tandem for the presidency and vice presidency in 2010, with Roxas giving way to Aquino as Liberal Party’s standard-bearer.
But Aquino, who was in Tokyo capping a four-day state visit, said he had no plans of running for any position in 2016.
In August last year, Aquino caused quite a stir when he hinted that he was open to constitutional amendments — including lifting term limits — that would allow him to extend his stay in Malacañan. The issue eventually died. The issue eventually died after Aquino and Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma said there will be no term extensions.
