Marcos says Santiago’s health should come first amid rigorous campaign

Senator Bongbong Marcos Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The health of presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago should be her priority amid the rigorous campaign for the upcoming May elections, his running mate said on Friday.

Vice presidential candidate and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday expressed hope that Santiago would join him in the campaign soon, however, he said that her health should come first.

“We had planned to be together during the campaign. That was always the original plan. But I suppose her health issues have overtaken her and she has just to attend to that. And I think that she would be able to overcome this new obstacle and she will be joining us in the campaign soon enough,” Marcos told reporters on the sidelines of his Unity Caravan in Cebu City.

On Thursday, Santiago said that she would skip the second presidential debate in Cebu City on Sunday to undergo a clinical trial for a new anticancer pill.

READ: Santiago to skip Comelec debate to try new anticancer pill

“I am very sorry to miss out on the debates, but it would be a disservice to the country if I forego the opportunity to get rid of my cancer completely and strengthen myself further to serve the Filipino people,” Santiago said in a statement.

While Marcos would prefer to campaign with Santiago, he said “the trend of the current campaign seems to gear towards individual campaigning rather than as a party.”

“The ideal is for us to campaign together. But I think the other factor is that this election is different and that most of the candidates are campaigning individually be they presidential, vice presidential or even senatorial candidates—most if not all are campaigning individually.  So that seems to be the trend for this campaign, for this election,” he added.

READ: Santiago to miss debate, much of campaign due to treatment

Marcos pointed out that “being in a trend of individual-type of campaigning, the candidate’s character, not so much on party affiliations, will play a big role.”

“I think because the dynamic here is that the voters are looking at individual candidates rather than party members and that the party machinery is no longer seen as a guide but merely as an over-arching organization for people to join in in the campaign pero ang pagtatanaw ng taong bayan ay bilang tao (but the voting public look at the candidates as individuals), so character is the issue here,” he said. RAM