Bongbong could become VP, Rody tells Pinoy community

BEIJING – Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is part of the Philippine delegation here, and he is being introduced by President Duterte as the possible new vice president.

Meeting with the Filipino community in this Chinese capital last Wednesday, Duterte said the only son and namesake of the late dictator could take the place of Vice President Leni Robredo.

“If he wins in his protest, we might have a new vice president,” Duterte said, referring to Marcos’ electoral protest filed before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Duterte said this while introducing the members of his delegation for his four-day state visit here including Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar.

It is not clear why Marcos is part of the Philippine delegation here. He is challenging his loss to Robredo, the Liberal Party’s vice presidential candidate, by a narrow margin of over 200,000 votes.

Cayetano, Duterte’s runningmate and now chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, was a distant third with 5.9 million votes.

Robredo is now part of the Duterte Cabinet as chief of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

In Bacolod City, Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said he found Duterte’s pronouncement “very troubling” for all those who supported Robredo.

Aquino, who attended yesterday’s Go Negosyo activity at the provincial capitol, was part of Robredo’s campaign team.

“I don’t know, they might say the President was just joking,” Aquino said.

Aquino said the case between Marcos and Robredo must be closely watched “because we don’t want that to be stolen, cheated… I think it is a call for us to be very vigilant.”

In Marcos’ election protest, he questioned supposed irregularities in the counting of votes particularly in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan.

Marcos’ sister Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos was also part of the delegation present during Duterte’s appearance before the Filipino community here.

The governor was one of the few local officials who had backed Duterte’s bid.  

“I had to run with nobody supporting me. Believe me, I do not have any governor in Luzon except two – Imee Marcos and Rep. (Albert) Abet Garcia of Bataan,” Duterte said. 

Duterte has close ties with the Marcoses. His father Vicente served as Cabinet member of the late dictator and Marcos’ father, Ferdinand.

During the first few days of his presidency, Duterte said he would not give a Cabinet post to Robredo to avoid hurting Marcos’ feelings.

The President eventually named Robredo as his housing chief.

Robredo earlier asked the PET to dismiss Marcos’ petition for lack of merit. Her lawyers argued that the grounds for Marcos’ case did not apply to an election protest. – With Giovanni Nilles, Gilbert Bayoran