The bromance between Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and political ally Vice President Jejomar Binay is currently going through a rough patch.
“Estrada and Binay are at odds after the former Philippine president failed to get the latter’s outright approval to re-develop the iconic Central Market in his city,” reports ABS-CBN News correspondents Carmina Reyes and Jorge Cariño on ABS-CBNnews.com.
A couple of weeks ago, there was a meeting wherein both men were present. The report revealed that Estrada had expressed his plan “to enter into public-private partnership with SM Development Corp. which has offered to rebuild the Central Market in Sta. Cruz, Manila into a three-level structure with a grocery on the ground level and roof-deck parking.”
The dilemma was that the city of Manila has no rights over the property. As such, the local government is prevented from just going right ahead and developing the spot. The Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC)—which is a shelter agency under the Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDCC)—owns the property. HUDCC is headed by Binay.
The report revealed: “Estrada was advised by Binay that all actions pertaining to the sale of the Old Bilibid Compound—a huge parcel of land to which the Central Market property is a part of—have to be reviewed by the Department of Finance and must undergo public bidding.”
When he heard this, Estrada said he got up and left the meeting.
Binay confirmed that they have not spoken to each other for two weeks since Estrada walked out from that meeting. But he was quick say, “Tampuhan lang (It’s just a misunderstanding).”
Incidentally, Estrada had told reporters, “Itutuloy ko ‘yan kahit magkatampuhan man kami (I’ll go on with the project even if we have a misunderstanding).”
Screengrab from an ANC video
