Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO/RYAN LEAGOGO
Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. distanced himself from the heated verbal tussle between two presidential aspirants, saying he would not want to be slapped in the end.
“It’s Christmas. its the season of joy and let’s indulge ourselves a little bit and feel some of that joy and spread some of that joy,” Marcos said at a press conference on Thursday.
The senator was reacting to the “slapping match” between Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.
READ: Roxas, Duterte engage in ‘slapstick’ politics
After threatening to slap Roxas for saying that his crime buster image in his province was a myth, Duterte again challenged his rival, this time, to a gunfight.
READ: Duterte challenges Roxas to gunfight
Asked if Marcos has advice for Duterte, the senator said: “If he asks me for advise I will give it. I don’t think he needs my advise. He knows what to do.”
Marcos earlier courted the mayor to be his president in 2016. But even before Duterte could decide whether or not to join the presidential race, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago already announced that Marcos would be her running mate. Duterte later named Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as his running mate.
Pressed further to comment on the Duterte-Roxas word war, Marcos said: “Kagaya ng sinasabi ko, huwag nyo akong isama dyan. Joy tayo e hindi na tayo nakikipagsampalan o anuman baka masampal pa ako hindi ba?”
(Like what I said, leave me out of it. We’re for joy, we won’t be slapping anyone or whatever, lest I might get slapped, right?)
Besides, the senator said Duterte and Roxas are his friends.
“I’d rather not enter into that discussion. I’m sure they will resolve it between the two of them,” he added. CDG