VP Binay asked Duterte to be his running mate —Jinggoy Estrada

Vice President Jejomar Binay has asked Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to be his running mate in the 2016 elections, a leader of the opposition said on Monday.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, however, said he was not aware of whether Duterte had accepted the offer.

“Well, I think Vice President Binay has offered the slot of the vice presidency to Mayor Duterte. But I think hindi pa yata sila nagka-ayusan... I am not privy to it,” Estrada told reporters at the Sandiganbayan after his bail hearing.

GMA News Online is trying to get confirmation from both Binay and Duterte's camps as regards Estrada's revelation.

Estrada is detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame on plunder charges related to his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

Despite his detention, Estrada indicated that he was still considering seeking the vice presidency in the 2016 election.

“Hindi ko pa alam….Pero marami naman akong kausap,” Estrada told reporters when asked on whether he will still push through with his intention to run for vice president in 2016 elections.

Estrada had earlier said that he was open to the idea of being Binay's running mate in the 2016 elections. Estrada said he expected to be a free man by the start of the campaign season next year.

Asked if he and Binay have already met for their possible tandem, Estrada candidly admitted that the Vice President has not even paid him a visit in his detention.

“Hindi pa kami nagkakausap. Hindi pa nga siya (Binay) dumadalaw sa akin,” Estrada said in a chance interview after the hearing of his petition to post bail before the Sandiganbayan.

Binay was the running mate of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada in 2010.

Jinggoy Estrada, the former President's son, ran for the Senate in the same ticket and placed second to Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.

Jinggoy Estrada is now on his second and final consecutive term as a senator.

Duterte is a member of the PDP-Laban, Binay's party before he resigned due to political differences with the party president, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III.

The Estrada's Partido ng Masang Pilipino and the PDP-Laban were coalition partners in 2010 under the United Nationalist Alliance.

Binay has since reorganized the UNA into a political party.

Pressed by reporters on the identities of the politicians with whom he was supposedly talking to, Estrada said in jest that these personalities all had the letter “R" in their names.

“Gusto niyo ng hint kung sino ang kausap ko? Basta may ‘R’ sa pangalan nila,” Estrada said.

All the personalities who are potential candidates for the 2016 presidential elections have the letter “R” in their names, such as Sen. Grace Poe, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Rodrigo Duterte and Jejomar Binay. -NB, GMA News