Noynoy does 'beso-beso' with Imelda in Binay party

For the first time since they were both elected into office during the May polls, President Benigno Aquino III and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos crossed paths in a birthday party on Monday night, where they shook hands and kissed each other’s cheeks. It was Rep. Marcos, wife of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, who approached Aquino during the 33rd birthday celebration of Makati City Mayor Erwin Binay, son of Vice President Jejomar Binay. Aquino shook the hands and kissed the cheeks of the former First Lady, who immediately left the scene after their encounter.
Rep. Marcos expressed hopes that her encounter with the President would be “a great start" for unity between her clan and the Aquinos. “I went to him and greeted him. We had a beso-beso... I pray it would be a good beginning for a united front to do great things for this country," she said in an interview aired over GMA News’ “24 Oras." The Marcoses and Aquinos have been political rivals since the 1970s. When then President Marcos declared martial rule in 1972, among the first people he ordered arrested was his arch-critic, then Senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., the late President Corazon Aquino’s husband. Intending to come home from exile to lead a growing anti-dictatorship movement, Senator Aquino was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now named after him) in 1983. His murder by aviation security troops, presumably the result of a Malacañang plot, further fueled the protest movement that eventually ousted the Marcoses from power in 1986. Despite the animosity between the two clans, two of Marcos’ children—Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Ilocos Norte Gov. Maria Imelda “Imee" Marcos—came to the wake of the former President Corazon Aquino last August and extended their sympathies to their rival clan. (See: Bongbong, Imee Marcos visit Cory Aquino's wake) Bongbong Marcos has also repeatedly expressed his willingness to reconcile with the Aquinos in earlier interviews. President Aquino said, however, that the Marcoses need to acknowledge first the “excesses" they have committed in the past before any talks of reconciliation could proceed.—Andreo C. Calonzo/JV, GMANews.TV