Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Leni Robredo. (File photos from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — If former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos wants to run for a national post in the 2022 elections, he must learn how to accept election results and his possible defeat.
That was the remark of Vice President Leni Robredo on Marcos’s plan to make a comeback in politics after he lost his vice presidential bid in the 2016 elections.
Marcos earlier announced that he intends to vie for a national post in 2022. However, he did not indicate the position that he eyes.
READ: Marcos eyes nat’l post in 2022 polls
“If he wants to run again, he can. That’s his right,” Robredo said in Filipino in another interview. “But if he runs again, he just has to make sure that he will accept the election results because if he can’t accept the results of the election, he will just drag down all the institutions.”
“Everyone who will run for office should accept the results of the elections. If you lose and you won’t accept it, it would be better not to run anymore,” she added.
Marcos has been contesting his loss on his 2016 vice presidential bid before the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
In her final argument, Robredo asked the tribunal to dismiss the electoral protest filed by Marcos after he failed to get more votes during the ballot revision and recount in the pilot provinces that he himself had chosen and that the recount actually added to her votes.
READ: Robredo, Marcos file final plea in poll protest at SC
On the other hand, Marcos asked the tribunal to annul the votes in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan due to alleged election violence, regardless of the test recount results.
Setting aside their respective votes in the three Mindanao provinces would allow Marcos to overtake Robredo’s total votes.
In the official tally, Robredo edged Marcos by only 263,473 votes, garnering 14,418,817 votes against Marcos’s 14,155,344.
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