Senator Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos. AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday talked about the presidency but said he is not considering it now.
“Not now,” Marcos told reporters. “You are always considering me to run for president but I don’t wake up in the morning thinking about it and I don’t go to sleep at night thinking about it.”
Unlike his mother, former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos, the senator said he has not dreamed of becoming a president.
“As I sit here now, I’m not thinking about it,” he said. “It has never been a dream.”
Just last month, his mother talked about returning to Malacañang, saying her senator-son was qualified join the presidential race in 2016.
“Well of course that’s her dream…As I said, if she could nominate me for the position of pope she would because she’s my mom. My mother loves me,” he said.
“She’s been dreaming that since she was born. I’ve been hearing that since I was a child…The first time I heard it I was three years old. It’s not a question kung pagbibigyan mo or what, it’s just who can predict the future?” he said.
Senator Marcos reiterated that he was not considering running for president.
“Again, I know I’ve said this 1,000 times, it’s too early, it’s just too early. As a purely practical matter, it’s too early to be thinking about it,” he said.
“I know you like the subject so much…but it’s really, really premature… All of those people who have declared their candidacy, I think they have made a mistake,” the senator added.
Being the son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, the senator said he had witnessed the “personal sacrifices” that have to be made in order to become a good leader.
“Most people only see the grandeur and then of course the power that is wielded by the president,” he said.
“But I’ve also seen the other side of it because I saw my father at the end of the day, at the beginning of the day, the kind of problems that you have to face, the kind of very serious sacrifices that you have to make if you’re going to be a good president… I know the personal sacrifices that have to be made.”
The senator pointed out, “Anybody can be president but not anybody can be a good president.”
“So there’s no use being a president if you’re not going to be a good one. It’s very, very hard,” he further said.