All’s well between Noy and Bi. Not all’s swell between the Vice President and some people in the President’s inner circle (or should that be circles?).

Appearing before “Bulong Pulungan” at Sofitel for the first time after many years, the VP who was mayor of Makati for 21 years (elected six times) made no bones about the perception that he is being isolated from his boss the commander-in-chief. “That’s their aim,” he said with just a hint of salt and vinegar in his voice.

What surprises him about the job where he feels jobless is that a 10-minute errand in the mall can stretch to three hours for Kodak moments with his new fans, and that the No. 2 is endowed with a budget of a mere P187 million, considering that “when I left Makati, I left P11 billion to my son,” the new mayor.

He didn’t seem worried over Mar Roxas’ election protest: “A protest is a matter of pride.” In other words, there was no cheating? In the VP’s opinion, it was easier to cheat in the local level than in the national.

If only he could be both VP and kingpin of his favorite city! Wistfully, he announced that before Mayor Binay’s term ends, “Makati will have a new high-rise hospital.” By 2013, how many new hospitals will have been built by the national government?