Marcos eyes nat’l post in 2022 polls

MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday announced that he will be running for a national post in the 2022 elections.

“My plan is I will be a candidate next election. For what, we still have to decide,” Marcos said in a forum hosted by the National Press Club.

Asked about speculations on social media that he will be running with Senator Manny Pacquiao or Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, Marcos said that speculations are unavoidable but many things can still change.

“Hindi mo maiiwasan, people are already speculating sinong tatakbo, anong mga team, anong mga partido. Hindi mo maiiwasan yan pero marami pang magbabago mula ngayon hanggang down pero mabilis lang ang panahon (People are already speculating on who will run in the elections, what are the teams, what are the parties. That is unavoidable but many things can still change from now until then but the time is fast),” Marcos said.

“Whatever it is, national campaign ang papasukan ko. Ganun ang gagawin ko (Whatever it is, I will enter a national campaign. That’s what I will do),” he added.

Marcos also shared that former senator Manny Villar advised him against the early announcement of plans to run for office.

The announcement came more than three years after suffering a defeat from Vice President Leni Robredo, who won the vice presidential race by over 260,000 votes against Marcos.

To this date, Marcos is still contesting the results before the Supreme Court, which sits as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

The PET earlier did not rule on the committee report on the result of the revision of ballots from three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos.

Instead, the Tribunal asked both parties to comment on the report and submit a memorandum on other issues relating to the jurisdiction as well as Marcos’ third cause of action which seeks to nullify election results for the vice presidency in Lanao Del Sur, Basilan, and Maguindanao.

Marcos’ sister Imee currently serves as a senator after winning in the May 2019 elections.