According to Joey Salgado, head of the Office of the Vice President media affairs, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, the vice president's daughter, handcarried the resignation letter addressed to Aquino to Malacañang.
"She was accompanied by Undersecretary Benjamin Martinez Jr., chief of staff of the Vice President," Salgado said. "Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa received the letter around 3:55 p.m. at the Office of the Executive Secretary,."
Salgado said Binay's resignation was irrevocable and effective immediately.
Aside from the press release, no other statement was released by Binay's camp. The mobile phones of Salgado and lawyer JV Bautista, interim secretary general of the opposition group United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), were off while Senator Nancy Binay was not answering her phone.
A staff of the senator said they would let the Office of the Vice President make the explanation.
Meanwhile, the new UNA spokesperson, Mon Ilagan, said he has no information on Binay's resignation.
Binay, who is embroiled in a corruption controversy, is the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers' (OFW) concerns and chairman of the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG.
The resignation was announced hours after Pulse Asia released the results of its latest survey showing Binay as the most trusted top government official.
Binay, who served as Makati mayor for several terms before running for vice president in 2010, has repeatedly expressed his intention to run for president in the 2016 elections.
Binay to go on offensive?
Meanwhile, an official of the Aquino-led Liberal Party said Binay's resignation was meant to divert the attention from the corruption issue hounding him.
"He will now use the administration as his punching bag and hit it to his heart's content hoping that that this might divert the corruption issue being lodged at him," said Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, LP's vice president for political affairs.
"He will now gather those opposed to President Aquino, from Marcos to GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) and all those who would want the good all days of traditional politics and fight not for principles but for survival.," he said.
Erice also said Binay resigned because "he is now sure that he will not be endorsed by President Aquino" in the 2016 elections.
"A trapo at heart and mind, VP Binay will now see and say an all 'evil' description of the government that for 5 years he had served," he said
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