Coloma denies brokering Noy-Binay meeting

MANILA, Philippines - Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office categorically denied yesterday insinuations made by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that he brokered the meeting between President Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday evening.

“I would like to state that I have no involvement in the meeting between the President and the Vice President on Oct.14,” Coloma said.

“I did not prepare or issue any press release regarding the meeting. On the days after the meeting, I simply answered questions from Malacañang reporters pertaining to the meeting as part of my official duties,” he added.

The meeting was held several hours after Binay spoke out against some of the actions taken by the Aquino administration.

This sparked speculation that the controversies surrounding the Vice President could be swept under the rug on account of the close relationship between Aquino and Binay.

Last Thursday, the Palace official hinted that Aquino and Binay discussed only personal matters since they did not tackle any official issue regarding governance, which simply meant it was a meeting between two long-time friends.

Coloma, however, refused to say who initiated the meeting, whether Binay apologized to Aquino, or if it was true that Aquino rejected Binay’s request for the Department of Justice to stop its investigation on Binay’s alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Trillanes downplayed the meeting, saying that the President is wise enough to see through the schemes and would not be influenced by Binay.

Trillanes also vowed to block any plans to forge an alliance between the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) for the national elections in 2016.

Binay has declared his intention to run for president in 2016 under UNA. Trillanes and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano are both members of the NP and have been actively involved in the Senate investigation into the allegedly overpriced Makati City parking building built when Binay was mayor of Makati City.

Trillanes said that no such talks between the two parties have been initiated and if ever someone from either side pursues this, he would personally block it. – With Marvin Sy