Binay no longer interested in Cabinet post in next admin

Vice President-elect Jejomar Binay will no longer seek any Cabinet post in the next administration, but said that he will still support President-elect Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III once they assume the country's leadership on June 30. The two had a nearly two-hour meeting Wednesday in Aquino's residence on Times Street, Quezon City, where Binay "reiterated… his decision to decline any Cabinet position so as not to burden the President and allow him to focus on the many challenges facing the nation," Joey Salgado, Binay's media affairs officer, said in a text message. Binay confirmed this in an ambush interview with reporters after the meeting, which he described as a "social, cordial meeting" between friends. "Wala pa sa ngayon. Siguro tignan na lang natin 'yung mga darating na araw (Nothing so far. Let's see in the coming days)," he said.
A reliable source in the Aquino camp said Binay was offered a position but the outgoing Makati mayor declined it and instead promised to support Aquino. The source, however, did not disclose what post was offered to Binay. Binay had publicly said that he wants to be the secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), but Aquino has expressed misgivings about giving him the post. Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service in 2000, is rumored to be Aquino's choice for the DILG post. Ties with Aquinos Binay has deep ties to the Aquino family that go back to the Marcos era when he was a street parliamentarian and a human rights activist. When Aquino's mother, the late President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, assumed office in 1986, Binay was named officer-in-charge of Makati, a post he or his wife, Elenita, would occupy for more than two decades. During the 1987 coup attempt, Binay was among the first local officials to go to Malacañang to defend Mrs. Aquino from military rebels. Heavily armed and ready for combat, he was nicknamed Rambotito, also a reference to his small physical stature. In recent history, Mrs. Aquino in 1986, Joseph Estrada in 1998 and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2001 were the only presidents to give their respective vice presidents Cabinet posts. In Mrs. Aquino's time, the late Salvador "Doy" Laurel was named foreign affairs minister. On the other hand, Mrs. Arroyo named Teofisto Guingona Jr. foreign affairs secretary. Both Laurel and Guingona, however, had a falling out with their respective presidents, which resulted in their resignations from the Cabinet. During the short-lived Estrada presidency, then Vice President Arroyo was named social welfare secretary. Mrs. Arroyo, however, resigned her Cabinet post at the height of the jueteng scandal in late 2000. She later succeeded Estrada in January 2001 following a military-backed uprising. In 1992, President Fidel Ramos did not give then Vice President Estrada any Cabinet post, but named the latter head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC). In 2004, Mrs. Arroyo also did not give Vice President Noli de Castro any Cabinet portfolio, only designating him as the administration's housing czar. — KBK/RSJ/HS, GMANews.TV