Ferdinand Marcos Jr. campaigning in Occidental Mindoro. (Photo from his Facebook page)
MANILA, Philippines — Looking back on his loss in the 2016 vice presidential elections, presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. insisted on Tuesday that his camp has proven that it wasn’t the right result, but that “God had other plans” for him.
In a press briefing in Cagayan de Oro City — his first since the campaign started — Marcos was asked about his loss to Vice President Leni Robredo and his subsequent election protest, which was eventually junked by the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
“We spent the last six years studying the problem so we learned many, many things about what happened in 2016. Even if di kami nanalo sa protesta I think we have proven to most, to everyone that it wasn’t the right result. It wasn’t the proper result,” Marcos said despite the unanimous decision of the high court in dismissing his protest against Robredo’s victory.
“But you know to be philosophical about it, I suppose God had other plans for me and (being) vice president was not a part of it,” he added.
Thus, Marcos has now taken to advising the public to “guard your vote” regardless of who the vote is for.
“We have to pay attention and make sure that nakabantay mabuti, hindi lang kami and the average voter. Whoever you’re voting for, guard your vote. Bantayan ninyo nang mabuti at sana iyung botong iyun ay para sa amin,” Marcos said.
“Pero kahit hindi ay kailangan bantayan ninyo nang mabuti para makatiyak tayo na bawat boto ay mabilang. Bawat boto ay ma-register at masasama sa bilang ng final accounting ng boto ng buong Pilipinas,” he added.
During his campaign in Batangas last week, Marcos, in jest, said in Filipino: “On May 9, I will send tons of three-in-one [coffee] so that nobody will fall asleep. As we all know, so many things happen at night.”
Marcos did not specify what he meant by that. But he was apparently alluding to his overnight loss against Robredo, who is now his closest rival again — this time in the presidential race.
It had been his contention that in the early hours of the counting of the votes, he was in the lead. Robredo however took over Marcos’ lead at around 3:30 a.m., leading him to contested the results of the elections before the PET.