Palace: President Aquino is not stopping Senate probe on Vice President

VP Jejomar Binay (left) and President Benigno Aquino III (Photo by Dondi Tawatao)

MANILA — Malacañang on Wednesday clarified that President Benigno S. Aquino III is not stopping the Senate investigation of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“We wish to correct the report that states that the President wanted the Senate investigation of Vice President Jejomar Binay stopped. For the record, what the President did was to relay the request of the Vice President to the Senate President,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement released at the government’s Official Gazette on Wednesday.

“Furthermore, prior to relaying the request to the Senate President, the President already informed the Vice President that the senators could not be dictated upon, as the Senate is composed of 24 ‘separate kingdoms’. In response, Senate President Franklin Drilon echoed the same message,” he said.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte also told reporters during a press briefing at the Palace that the President was merely conveying a message from the Vice President.

“He (President Aquino) was (just) relaying a message (from the Vice President). I remember in the FOCAP (Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines) forum, the President already mentioned this, that with this conversation with the VP, he said that he will speak to the Senate President, ‘I will convey your message’,” she said.

Valte was referring to the meeting of the President with Vice President Binay in Bahay Pangarap last month, when the latter asked the President to tell the Senate to stop the investigation.

“The President was asked to convey a message, that was very straight forward and the message was conveyed… To his mind, there is nothing wrong with conveying the message, especially because the way the conversation went was, when the request to convey was made, the President said: ‘I can do that but remember that I came from the Senate. Your daughter is in the Senate, you know well enough that there are 24 ‘different republics’ and no one can dictate to them’,” she said.

The Senate is conducting an investigation on the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall construction during Vice President Binay’s term as city mayor.