Still no Poe-Ping talks

With only two weeks until E-Day, the much talked about unity talks between Fernando Poe Jr. and Sen. Panfilo Lacson failed again to push through.

"If something happens, we will tell you. For now, we’ll have no comment," Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) overall campaign chairman, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, said in a news conference at the Silver Palace Hotel yesterday morning.

Echoing remarks made earlier by Lacson, Binay said the KNP’s doors for an opposition unification remain open until May 10.

But he added, "We won’t hold our breaths."

Nobody from the KNP could say where Poe, their standard-bearer, was yesterday. Poe was a no-show in the KNP’s motorcades in Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Parañaque yesterday afternoon.

However, Poe was expected to attend the KNP’s grand rally in Pateros and Taguig last night, said his personal campaign manager, Sen. Vicente Sotto III.

Poe and Lacson, who is running as an independent, met on Easter Sunday to discuss a possible merger.

They were to hold another meeting the next day, April 12, but it did not push through, supposedly because of their conflicting schedules. The meeting was brokered by Binay.

Binay said he didn’t have a hand in the meeting scheduled yesterday, having suggested that somebody else mediate for the two parties.

But Binay was confident that Poe would handily win the elections even without a merger with Lacson.

"If at all, the unification would only give us bonus votes," Binay said.

In a separate interview, Sotto said he was set to meet with senior KNP officials to discuss the unification issue.

Sotto said he would also ask the KNP to assess "the possible scenarios of cheating by the administration."