TAGAYTAY CITY – Vice President Jejomar Binay unexpectedly arrived at a conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) in Tagaytay City to issue a “formal apology” in person to the group for backing out of the much anticipated debate between him and Senator Antonio Trillanes III.
The second highest government official of the land cited his “lawyer-sense” as telling him that “since his would-be verbal foe was constantly harping about his competence as a lawyer, Trillanes would later play the underdog and portray him as an opportunist who took advantage of the senator’s lack of debating skills”.
“Sana maniwala kayo,” he said, as he beseeched the media to listen to his reason for not pushing through with the debate.
He said that it might be wrong to call the cancelled face-off between him and Trillanes as a debate. “It would have been a talk, and properly moderated,” he clarified.
Also at the conference to deliver the keynote address, Senator Grace Poe said “she would have wanted Binay and Trillanes to square it off”.
She said she was eager “to gage for herself the credibility of each man not just through their speeches but through their body movements and facial expressions”.
Poe added that “it would have also been beneficial for the people if they witnessed the debate themselves so they could personally make judgments on the participants.
Binay first brought up the subject of a verbal face-off between him and Trillanes during the KBP monthly General Membership Meeting and had asked KBP to organize the activity which would have been a venue to clarify allegations of corruption that the senator had hurled at the Vice-President.
The event was already scheduled on November 27 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). However, on birthday celebration last November 11, Binay said he was backing out from the face-off after a reporter relayed Trillanes’ statements about Binay’s superior skills with regards to verbal scuffles and the senator’s need for earnest preparations even going so far as to get a tutor.
The two-day KBP activity in Tagaytay City is the 40th annual Top Level Management Conference with the theme “Broadcast Media’s New Frontier.” Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is also expected to give a talk on the second day of the media conference. (davaotoday.com)
