‘We’re still a team’

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Despite their nonvisibility as a team, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos said his tandem with presidential candidate, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, was alive and kicking.

The Marcos and Santiago camps keep in regular touch to plan their campaign, the senator cum vice presidential candidate said Thursday.

He himself last talked with Santiago before the New Year, Marcos said.

“We are in constant communication, especially now that the campaign period is approaching,” he told reporters in a Senate forum.

He said the two camps had started discussing where they will campaign together, as well as the places they will visit separately. They could not be together all the time and splitting up would allow them to cover more ground, Marcos said.

He said he plans to kick off his campaign in the Ilocos and make his way to Metro Manila and other provinces.

As for concerns about Santiago’s health and ability to campaign, Marcos said he believes her when she asserts that she is still in the race.

“If she says that she’s capable or she’s strong enough, fine, we will proceed on that basis,” he said.

Santiago, who is on medical leave from the Senate, has claimed to have licked stage 4 lung cancer but has refused to release her medical records on the grounds that it is nobody’s business.

 Popular among the youth

She appears in public from time to time to accept invitations to speak before groups where her one-liners are usually a big hit. She is obviously tapping her popularity among the youth in her campaign for President.

But while the constant choice for president of students in school polls, Santiago fares poorly in nationwide voter surveys.

Marcos, on the other hand, has been rising in vice presidential surveys. Recent polls had him closing the gap with topnotcher Sen. Francis Escudero.

In the latest Social Weather Stations poll, Marcos received a 25-percent rating, placing second to Escudero who got 28 percent. In a Pulse Asia report, Escudero got 29 percent, while Marcos got 23 percent.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the late dictator who imposed martial law, has been hounded by demands for an apology for the atrocities committed during his father’s rule.

But he has insisted there is nothing to be sorry for, but that there is a clamor today for his father’s programs. He said the people do not want to debate the past but would rather know how their leaders intend to improve their lives.