‘I know what I am and others can say what they want’

Yes, says Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., he is the real Bongbong, contrary to rumors circulating since his college days that the "real" Bongbong is dead and that he is an impostor.

"I don‘t even know how that rumor started," he says with amusement. "To this day, people still come up to me and ask me that question."

Surrounded by inquisitive lady journalists over dinner including this one from Allure, Bongbong, natty in a Cerruti jacket, seems not to mind being fair game for questions that range from his governorship to his personal life.

"What have you been busy with?" Jullie Yap Daza asks Bongbong as soon as she breezes in. He replies, "Trying to govern!" In the same breath Jullie inquires why Bongbong seems to have "so much white hair" now, and he replies without missing a beat, "Because I’ve been trying to govern!" Laughter resonates around the room and no one seems more relaxed than Bongbong himself.

At 47 – an age he admits without hesitation ("Anyone can look up our biographies anyway," he says) – Bongbong Marcos has, so to speak, settled into his groove.

"It shocks the hell out of me!" Bongbong jokes about turning his age. But truth is, he comes across as pretty much settled and at ease with being a second-term governor, husband to lawyer Lisa Araneta-Marcos, and father to his boys Ferdinand Alexander, nine, Joseph Simon, seven, and William Vincent, six. "They’re nice kids," he says fondly of his sons.

"I like living in the province very much," Bongbong relates. "The boys attend a school run by a group of Italian nuns. Lisa teaches Law at Northwestern University."

The governor excitedly shares that post-SARS, tourism in his province is back on its feet. He also proudly points out that Ilocos Norte was cited last year as one of five provinces which had the highest increase in the UN’s Human Resource Development Index. The index covers such criteria as quality of life, peace and order, health care, education, income and availability of essential commodities.

It helps a lot, Bongbong says, that he has the Ilocanos by his side. "I go anywhere around the Philippines (and I see that) talagang naghihirap ang tao. That’s why it’s easier to make things into reality (in Ilocos Norte) because the work force is highly educated, well-disciplined and industrious. All the clichés about Ilocanos are true. And we are proud of it – we are frugal, industrious, traditional, very family-oriented," he says.

It’s plain to see that Bongbong’s equanimity these days has to do with coming to terms with who he is and with the inescapable expectations that arise from being his father’s namesake. Though he describes himself as "a reluctant politician," one gets the sense that the governor will inevitably measure his life by how far he thinks he has carried out what he believes are the duties that come with being a Marcos scion.

How does the 5’6" tall Bongbong, who even has "the exact size," of his father, feel about being a Marcos? "Wonderful," he replies. "I wouldn’t want to be anything else. I’m proud of it and will always be happy to be a Marcos. I don’t see any reason to be otherwise."

Bongbong says he misses his father, who would have been 86 had he been alive. "I wish he were here," Bongbong says. "(It would be nice) talking to him, laughing, introducing him to my children. He can see how his apos – all eight of them are boys – have grown. He saw all the children except mine. That would be nice."

Bongbong admits though that he is not at peace with where his father is buried. "It’s not really up to me," he says about where his father will ultimately be laid to rest. "It’s not my decision to make."

Beyond that regret, however, Bongbong has good memories of his dad. "Every memory I have of him is fond," he says. "Yeah (he would also get mad at me) but now I miss him because he’s no longer here. Did I fight with my dad? You gotta be kidding! You don’t fight with him – you argue, you say your piece, but in the end what he says, goes."

"I always considered my father to live in his head," Bongbong continues. "A large part of what he was was what he was thinking. He could be (sociable) but everything in his entire life was devoted to his work. If it was not in aid of that, he would not put too much priority on it."

Unwittingly revealing how far he was willing to go out on a limb for his father, Bongbong admitted that in 1983 ("August or September, I don’t really remember the date"), he donated a kidney to the President. Reacting to a comment describing how his sister, Rep. Imee Marcos had said that the kidney transplant had been really tough for their mom Imelda because the two men Imelda loved most were under the knife, Bongbong recalls, " We talked about it after... it must have been terrible." But Bongbong says he didn’t have to think twice about the decision simply because, "He’s my dad." Bongbong declines to speak further on this, however, saying as much as pleading, "It really is private."

"So you did a Cayetano?"asks Allure editor Joanne Rae Ramirez, referring to the late Sen. Rene Cayetano’s son Lino who bravely donated 70 percent of his liver to his father.

"No," Bongbong corrects, "he did a Marcos!"

Bongbong says firmly that he believes his father, who declared martial law exactly 31 years ago on this day, will eventually be vindicated, although he adds, "not in our lifetime."

If there were specific lessons his father dinned on the young Bongbong, they were to "study hard, work hard, be serious, don’t waste your opportunities." Does Bongbong think he has followed all that? "Oh sure!" he replies with a smile. "I’m trying to make bawi for the callowness of youth!"

Bongbong says that the People Power revolt that ended his father’s rule in l986 and his family’s subsequent exile changed him in that he now gives "very little importance to material things; those things suddenly don’t matter anymore." He adds, "Suddenly the idea of being a (Filipino) citizen becomes important."

Because of Imee’s high profile as a congresswoman, one asks Bongbong if he minds hearing it said that it is Imee, rather than he, who will continue their father’s legacy. "They may be right," Bongbong muses. (But do I mind?) Oh please! There is none of that! You have to remember that we are all reluctant politicians. So para sa amin, if it’s your time to do the part we need to do, it’s your time."

True enough, Bongbong speaks of his sister with visible pride. "I think Imee looks as well as she’s ever looked even when she was 19," he says. "I think she is also enjoying life much more. She has many things that I don’t. Imee and I are two different people. Sure, of course (we have sibling rivalry). Siblings should have rivalries but not in that regard. We see it as a duty that we have to perform."

Bongbong vehemently denies his family’s involvement in the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, whose 20th death anniversary the nation commemorated last Aug 21. "I don’t have a cloud of suspicion," Bongbong says. "The cloud of suspicion hangs over other people’s heads, not our family. It’s just something we have to deal with."

Likewise, he says, he does not feel compelled to explain himself to others. "That’s what people say about me," he says. "I know what I am and others can say what they want. I don’t need to resolve what I truly am with what they say. There’s no need for that kind of resolution. It’s someone’s opinion versus what I know to be true."

Bongbong shares that since his sons are still young, he has not discussed the Marcos legacy with them. "Maliliit pa ang mga anak ko," he says. "They read the papers (and say) ‘Hey dad we’re in the papers.’ That’s it. If the kids were older I’d just say, ‘Look at me, am I a bad guy? I’m the son of that person (their grandfather). You can judge from that."

In the meantime, though, there is still much work to be done. "There’s not one (achievement I’m most proud of)," Bongbong elaborates. "I’ve always said that what I want to install is a system so that we do things differently. When I first came I said, ‘I want the cooperatives to be strong but I will only help you so far. If you don’t succeed I’m not helping you anymore because you’re not working, right? So let’s do something else.’ So this (is the) kind of self-sufficiency in a real sense and not in that political way na bigay ka na lang nang bigay.

"It’s the dignity of the Ilocano that’s important for me. To give them a means to be self-sufficient so that there is that political freedom where they don’t owe anything to any politician – they can vote any way they want, they retain their dignity and not have to kowtow to some small-town politician with ridiculous ambitions. That’s really my thinking – let them have a means of livelihood so the dignity of Ilocanos is reality."

So what’s in store for the young governor, for whom a lot can still happen? "Put it this way," Bongbong reckons, "I don’t think in terms of I’m going to be governor, then do something else. It’s a political career, you take it as far as you can, be successful in your chosen career if you can. (Another Marcos presidency?) There’s just no way of telling. With the way things happen, I mean, anything can happen in this lifetime. Anyone can become president... I mean literally anyone. Anything is possible. We (Marcoses) are still in politics."

(E-mail the author at annmondo@yahoo.com)