VP Binay to Grace Poe: I was loyal to FPJ

Vice President Jejomar Binay has claimed that he was a loyal stalwart of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. when the latter ran as the opposition's standard-bearer against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004, GMA News' "24 Oras" reported on Thursday.

The opposition leader indicated that his loyalty was something that couldn't easily be seen in the other parties that want to draft the actor's daughter Sen. Grace Poe as part of their presidential slate in 2016.

“Pero ako ulo hanggang paa, loyal ako sa tatay niya. Naging manager pa niya ako noon,” Binay said.

Grace Poe has said that she didn't see herself running alongside Binay as the latter's vice presidential candidate next year. She adverted to Binay's continued refusal to answer the allegations of graft against him before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee.

Asked if he was hurt by Grace Poe's remarks, Binay said, "'Di naman."

"At saka consider pa lang naman. 'Di naman napunta sa nagkasundo,” Binay said.



Grace Poe on Wednesday said that Interior Secretary Mar Roxas invited her to be his running mate in the presidential elections next year.

Roxas is the ruling Liberal Party's presumptive standard-bearer in 2016.

Also on Thursday, lawyer JV Bautista, a spokesperson for Binay's United Nationalist Alliance party said that the LP was composed of politicians who cheated Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 elections.

Binay, however, has confirmed that UNA was likely to coalesce with Arroyo's party Lakas-CMD.

Grace Poe said Bautista should think before speaking since the party they were seeking an alliance with was involved in the fraud that allegedly attended the 2004 elections. —Andrei Medina/NB, GMA News