Binay told to rethink refusal of Cabinet post

Former President Joseph Estrada on Friday advised his running-mate, now Vice President-elect Jejomar Binay to reconsider his decision to refuse Cabinet positions in the the incoming administration. Estrada gave the advice during the oath-taking of Navotas City local officials which Binay administered, QTV’s Balitanghali reported. Estrada and Binay graced the event. It was the first time Estrada and Binay were together since the proclamation of the country’s new leaders earlier this month, the vice president-elect’s media officer said in a text message to GMANews.TV. Binay could be a crime-buster if he would accept the offer to head the commission that will investigate outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the former president said. [See: Commission that will probe Arroyo offered to Binay] When he was vice-president, Estrada headed the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission. In a nearly two-hour meeting on Wednesday, President-elect Benigno Simeon Aquino III offered Binay to head the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). But Binay declined these offers. The television report said Estrada promised to support Binay’s plans and decisions that would uplift the life of the indigents in the country. Binay vowed he will do all he can to fulfill the promises he made during the three-month campaign leading to the May 10 polls. He also urged Aquino to stop the impending toll rate increase at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), saying the poor will be severely affected by it. — RJAB Jr./LBG, GMANews.TV