Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos welcomes United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) standard bearer Vice President Jejomar C. Binay and other UNA candidates in Laoag on Monday. UNA PHOTO
VICE President Jejomar Binay on Monday paid a courtesy call on Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, the daughter of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, during his campaign sortie in Ilocos Norte.
Ilocos Norte is the hometown of vice presidential candidate Sen. Bongbong Marcos.
Binay’s visit to Ilocos Norte and a courtesy call on Bongbong’s sister will likely swirl speculations that he is already teaming up with Marcos Jr. and dropping his running mate Sen. Gringo Honasan.
Honasan did not accompany Binay in the Ilocos Norte visit.
In an interview with reporters, Imee said welcoming Binay does not mean she is endorsing him.
“He’s our friend, long before he was a candidate. Lahat naman welcome mangampanya sa Ilocos. Pero, wala pang endorsement dahil si Bongbong lang ang kandidato namin,” Governor Marcos said.
The other presidential candidates who have visited Governor Marcos were Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, Bongbong’s running mate; Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Governor Marcos said she has a close affinity with Binay because the latter has Ilocano roots. Binay can trace his roots to Isabela through his mother who is an Ibanag.
“Siyempre may dugong Ilokano, so may sentimental attachment. Hindi maiiwasan,” Governor Marcos said.
For his part, Binay said he is confident he would secure victory in Ilocos Norte, recalling that he won in all the towns there in the 2010 vice presidential elections.
Asked about possibly leading in Malacañang with Marcos Jr., Binay said he will talk with Bongbong about his role in the administration should both of them win.
Governor Marcos said her brother had always wanted to lead the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should he win as vice president.
“Bongbong said many times that he would work to get the DOLE. Because gusto niyang magkatrabaho nang matiwasay at maayos ang lahat,” Governor Marcos said.
The tandem “Binay-Bongbong” or “Bi-Bong” first floated in the north by the “Solid North” movement in support of candidates whose roots can be traced to northern Luzon.
Binay and Marcos have a strong following in the north because of their roots to Isabela and Ilocos Norte, respectively.
READ: Binay rides on ‘Binay-Bongbong’ tandem in ‘Solid North’ Pangasinan
Meanwhile, Honasan did not join the Vice President’s campaign in the north in deference to local officials there who were supportive of a Binay-Marcos tandem.
READ: Honasan says he has no ill feelings vs Binay-Bongbong tandem
While Binay had failed to regain his lead in the opinion polls, Marcos had been leading the voters’ preference surveys, while Honasan had consistently placed at the bottom.
READ: Duterte still up; Roxas inches up
Marcos Jr.’s vice presidential bid remains hounded by the human rights violations issue during the martial rule of his father and supposed the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by his family under his father’s 21-year rule.
During the first vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas, Marcos maintained he had nothing to do with his family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth and claimed he could not return what he does not have.
READ: PCGG: Bongbong blocked return of $40M to gov’t
Meanwhile, Governor Marcos and her three sons were also found to have offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands, a known tax-haven for the world’s elite, according to the Offshore Leaks in 2013 released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and reported by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
The investigation linked Imee Marcos to offshore companies Sintra Trust, ComCentre Corp., and M Trust, which she did not declare in her statement of assets and liabilities networth, raising suspicions that these could have been used to stash away the Marcoses’ alleged ill-gotten wealth pegged at $5 billion during her father’s two-decade rule.
READ: PH to probe ‘secret’ Marcos offshore trust
The Marcoses were also subjects of civil forfeiture cases before the Sandiganbayan on their alleged ill-gotten wealth in connivance with their cronies. Meanwhile, the Marcos matriarch Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos faces 10 counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly having pecuniary interests in various foundations set up by her and her husband to accumulate ill-gotten wealth.
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