Bongbong runs for VP sans Duterte

MANILA, Philippines - Four Bicolanos, a Taguig native and now one Ilocano.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced his vice presidential bid last night on his official website after failed talks with Vice President Jejomar Binay and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in recent weeks.

“I have decided to run for vice president in the May 2016 elections,” Marcos said in his official website, www.bongbongmarcos.com.

Marcos, of the Nacionalista Party, said he is leaving it up to the Filipino people to judge whether he should be given another chance to serve the people in another capacity.

“Consequently, I have decided to put my political fortune in the hands of the Filipino people,” he said.

He is counting on the so-called Solid North, which has always delivered the needed votes for members of his clan, plus the support of Visayans in his mother’s home region to propel him to the nation’s second highest post.

Four of his rivals are all from the Bicol Region: Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party, Gregorio Honasan of the United Nationalist Alliance, independent candidate Francis Escudero and Antonio Trillanes IV of the Nacionalista Party.

NP Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano hails from Taguig.

“I humbly ask them to judge whether or not I am worthy of their trust to be vice president on the strength of my performance as a public servant in the last 26 years: first as vice governor and governor of Ilocos Norte, then as representative of the 2nd district of Ilocos Norte and, finally, as senator of the country,” Marcos said.

Marcos’ decision came in the wake of reports that his mother, former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, was looking for a viable vice presidential candidate for her son, whom she wants to run for president.

The senator earlier revealed that his mother had wanted him to become president ever since he was a child.

Marcos’ entry into the vice-presidential race brings to six the number of candidates for the post. Apart from Marcos, Sens. Francis Escudero, Antonio Trillanes IV, Alan Peter Cayetano and Gregorio Honasan are also running for vice president. Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo is the only one coming from the House of Representatives.

Marcos also branded as speculations reports that he is teaming up with Duterte nor Binay.

“All these talks of teaming up with certain leading presidential candidates have been mere speculations,” he said.

Marcos said he flew to Davao City on Wednesday and consulted with Duterte.

“He was gracious enough to promise me his support should I decide to run for vice president. I too will support Mayor Duterte if and when he runs for president,” the senator said.

Marcos admitted that Binay also invited him to be his running mate but talks fell through due to their irreconcilable political differences.

“There were initial talks between our supporters. But any team-up with the Vice President must be rooted on a shared vision for our country, a common platform of government as well as political perspectives,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it would be difficult for me to tame our political differences,” Marcos said. 

Binay fought against the human rights violations during the martial law regime of the senator’s father, former President Ferdinand Marcos.

“For one thing, I believe that elected officials have an obligation to our people to help change the course of our nation’s history by banishing the politics of personality, which to me is one of the primary causes why our country today has become a soft state where the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, graft and corruption is endemic, the drug menace pervades, injustice is the norm and government incompetence is accepted,” Marcos said.

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, a former defense minister during the Marcos regime, expressed his opinion earlier on Monday that a Binay-Marcos tandem could have been a formidable team-up.

Enrile also downplayed the conflict in ideologies between Marcos and Binay.

“Well, in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, no such thing. If you are going to have deep-seated emotions about personal relationship with politics, quit it,” he said.