POLITICAL BUZZ Vice President Jejomar Binay, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, interim president of the United Nationalist Alliance, talk after lunch at Manila City Hall on Wednesday. JOAN BONDOC
Vice President Jejomar Binay on Wednesday said his party had formed a committee to look for a vice presidential running mate for him in next year鈥檚 presidential election.
Binay told reporters that Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, interim president of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), was the head of the committee, which would also look for senatorial candidates for the opposition party.
Binay said the search committee would lay down the qualifications for his running mate.
UNA has been reported considering the popular Sen. Grace Poe as running mate for Binay, but Poe, an emerging presidential candidate, has rejected teaming up with the Vice President, who is under investigation by the Senate and the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged corruption during his tenure as mayor of Makati City.
There have also been reports that UNA is considering the tough-taking mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte, as a running mate for Binay. But Duterte has also declined to run with Binay.
The Vice President spoke to reporters after the opening of the National Housing Summit in Barangay (village) Ugong, Valenzuela City.
Binay said he did not mind the entry of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas into the 2016 presidential race.
鈥淗aving more candidates for the presidency will give the public the opportunity to select,鈥� Binay said.
Roxas, after receiving praise from President Aquino, said on Tuesday that he was ready to continue the good government program of the administration.
Aquino on Monday said Roxas remained at the top of the administration鈥檚 list of candidates, but did not announce that Roxas was his candidate for President.
UNA to launch party
The search for candidates begins as UNA prepares to launch as a political party. Sen. Nancy Binay, who attended the housing summit with her father, said the party was likely to be launched by July.
Vice President Binay also confirmed that UNA was in talks with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo鈥檚 Lakas party for a coalition.
Binay shrugged off suggestions that his party鈥檚 alliance with Lakas would be a 鈥渒iss of death.鈥�
鈥淓lection is always about votes. One voter means an additional vote,鈥� he said.
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No problem
Tiangco said in a phone interview that Binay had not asked either Poe or Duterte to be his vice presidential running mate.
What Binay had said was that he was 鈥渃onsidering鈥� Poe or Duterte as a possible running mate, according to Tiangco.
Tiangco also shrugged off the suggestion that Binay was having a problem finding a running mate.
鈥淚f ever, it will not be his problem. It鈥檚 the assignment of the search committee,鈥� Tiangco said.
So far, there have been no serious talks with any possible vice presidential candidate, he added.
September deadline
Tiangco said the search committee would give itself a September deadline to come up with a short list of vice presidential and senatorial candidates for Binay鈥檚 consideration.
He said Binay would want possible running mates to be, among other qualifications, open to working for the welfare of overseas Filipino workers and the poor, whom the Vice President wanted to be given access to free public education, free hospitalization, among other benefits.
In a separate talk with reporters, Tiangco mentioned as possible senatorial candidates Manila Vice Mayor Francisco 鈥淚sko Moreno鈥� Domagoso and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
He said Binay had been talking with former Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
Lunch with Erap
Binay, his daughter Nancy, son Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay, and Tiangco had lunch with Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Wednesday.
The Vice President, however, declined to say what had been discussed during the lunch with the former President of the Philippines at Manila City Hall.
鈥淚t was all friendly talk,鈥� Binay told reporters outside Estrada鈥檚 office. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been quite a while since I last visited Erap so I missed his jokes,鈥� he added, using Estrada鈥檚 nickname.
Binay said politics was mentioned only once and it was about the UNA selection committee.
Estrada was more forthcoming in discussing his two-hour lunch with the Binays with reporters.
鈥淲e talked about ER Ejercito (the ousted governor of Laguna province), how he was the only politician in the country to be charged and found guilty of [electoral] overspending,鈥� Estrada said.
鈥淓lections, we also talked about that. Just preparing how to counter, just to read the next elections,鈥� he said.
Asked to elaborate, Estrada replied: 鈥淲hy would we do that? The competition would know.鈥�
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