Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. files his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay City. INQUIRER.net/Daniza Fernandez
MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president on Wednesday.
The son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos personally filed his COC at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay City around 11:13 a.m.
This was his first shot at the presidency apparently hoping to follow his father’s footsteps. But for critics, this was an alleged attempt by the Marcoses to rebrand their family and allegedly a chance to revise history.
After filing his COC, Marcos faced members of the media and was asked if he is prepared to compete anew against Vice President Leni Robredo should she decide to also vie for the presidency in 2022.
Marcos replied: “I’m running for president. I’m not fighting against anyone.”
He likewise mentioned that he had talked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, about politics. He did not elaborate.
“We talked about politics but no specifics. And since then, hindi na kami nag-usap sa specifics ‘yung mga ganyang klaseng usapan, ‘ikaw mag-presidente, ako mag-vice [or] ikaw mag-vice, ako mag-presidente.’ Hindi na umabot ‘yung usapan namin sa ganun,” Marcos said.
(We talked about politics but no specifics. And since then, we did not anymore talk about specifics like a discussion of ‘you run for president, I’ll run for vice president or you run for vice president, I’ll run for president.’ We did not reach such a conversation.)
Asked if he was considering Senator Bong Go as his vice president, he responded: “Baka pwede rin (Maybe), we’ll see.”
Marcos was a one-term senator from 2010-2016 before seeking the vice presidency. He lost to Robredo and lodged an electoral complaint against her. But his protest was eventually junked by the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal or PET.
His first crack at politics was when he became Ilocos Norte’s vice-governor at the age of 23 in 1980 while his father ruled the country under martial law.
He then became governor from 1983 until his father’s dictatorship was toppled via a bloodless revolution in 1986.
The Marcos family returned to the country in 1992, and he won as representative of Ilocos Norte’s second district that year. From 1998-2007, Marcos served as governor of Ilocos Norte for three consecutive terms, and then returned to Congress in 2007 before winning a seat in the Philippine Senate in 2010.
A Pulse Asia survey showed Marcos was the second most preferred presidential candidate, garnering 15 percent approval from 2,400 respondents. Among the choices in the survey were Robredo, President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, Senators Grace Poe and Panfilo Lacson, and Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.
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