FILE PHOTO: Senator Imee Marcos during a hybrid plenary session on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — The Marcoses are “back in style.”
So said Senator Imee Marcos as she expressed surprise over her bother Bongbong Marcos’ popularity as shown in recent presidential surveys.
“Yes, it’s come as an enormous surprise. It’s a huge windfall,” she said Tuesday when asked over ANC’s Headstart about her bother’s high ranking in the surveys.
“My brother has been working quietly all these years. But the truth is we’ve been out of fashion for such a long time. We’re surprised that we’re back in style,” the senator added.
READ: What explains Marcos Jr.’s popularity?
Various surveys showed her brother’s wide lead over his rivals, which include Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, and Senators Manny Pacquiao and Panfilo Lacson.
In 2016, Bongbong Marcos also ran but lost to Robredo. His election protest against the Vice President did not also prosper after it was junked by the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
This time, the son and namesake of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos is facing a number of disqualification cases in connection with his 1995 conviction in a tax evasion case.
A petition, however, declaring him a nuisance candidate had already been dismissed by the Commission on Elections Second Division.