CAVITE, Philippines — While he has yet to secure backing of President Rodrigo Duterte, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is "very very grateful" for the endorsement of a faction of the administration PDP-Laban party.
In a chance interview in Cavite, Marcos said they have long waited and hoped for the endorsement announced earlier Tuesday while he was wooing voters here in Cavite.
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"Malaking pasasalamat namin sa lahat ng ating kaibigan na kasapi sa PDP-Laban sa kanilang ipinahayag na tiwala sa aming dalawa ni Inday Sara at sa buong UniTeam," he said.
(We are very grateful to our friends who are part of PDP-Laban for their trust in us Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and the whole UniTeam.)
"This new development will consolidate the forces of unity so that we can continue to work against those who would want to divide Filipinos against each other. And that is what we have been campaigning for and that is our message and that is our dream—that we bring the country together. This is an important step in that regard," he added.
Marcos has been hammering on his unity campaign in his speeches, stressing this is as a way to recover from the pandemic.
Marcos and running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio are running under the UniTeam slate of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas. PDP-Laban previously declared support for Mayor Duterte — daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, who is party chairman.
Mayor Duterte also expressed gratitude to PDP-Laban for the endorsement of her running mate.
But she explained that she was as unaware of discussions regarding the endorsement. "I do not know what was discussed but I only knew of the agreement that PDP-Laban will endorse the presidency of BBM," she said in a separate ambush interview.
But as the UniTeam bets now bagged the backing of PDP-Laban, will the endorsement of President Duterte come next?
"I cannot speak for the president, I do not know what he's thinking right now," Mayor Duterte said.
Barely two months left before the May 9 elections, Duterte has remained coy on whose candidacy he will be backing after his long-time aide Sen. Christopher "Bong" Go withdrew from the race.