Palace on Bongbong’s bid in 2016: It’s a free country

MANILA, Philippines - Anyone wishing to run in the elections and govern the country – including the senator-son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos – can freely do so, according to Malacañang.

“It’s a free country. Anybody who thinks he has a chance to govern and win a big mandate is free to run in whatever position you might want, be it vice president, president, senator or congressman,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said, referring to Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos.

“We have no comment on the preference of anyone, particular any politician, to run for a higher public office. We wish them well if they think that they have the mandate from the people to do so,” Lacierda said over the weekend.

The elder Marcos was the political nemesis of President Aquino’s father Ninoy.

Bongbong, a former Ilocos Norte governor, said it is the dream of his mother, former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, to see him become president.

“Of course, that’s her dream. If she could nominate me for the position of pope, she would,” he said earlier.

But he stressed he has no plan at the moment to run for president.

“I do not wake up in the morning thinking about it, and I do not go back to sleep at night thinking about it. There is so much to be done now,” Bongbong said. “My mother generally thinks in political terms because that has been her life.”

The senator was reacting to a question on his presidential ambition as the Liberal Party and allied political parties were reportedly in talks on fielding a common standard bearer in 2016.

Malacañang reminded Bongbong early this month that the country’s economy is much better now than in the tumultuous last years of his father’s rule.

“Our present situation is definitely nowhere near the first half of the 1980s, particularly the period 1983-1986, when the economy was contracting,” Lacierda told a news briefing.

“Today, the economy is certainly much better with growth rates being one of the highest in the region. Inflation is at less than five percent. The share of debt-to-GDP is declining,” he said.

“The peso is stable and the international business community is giving the country investment grade ratings,” he added.

Lacierda was reacting to Bongbong’s plan to question the government’s high budget for its conditional cash transfer program for the poorest of the poor.

He said inflation and interest rates were in double digits during the Marcos regime. “That was unmanageable and foreign investors were avoiding the Philippines.”

Lacierda clarified, however that there is still much to be done to improve the lives of ordinary Filipinos.

“At no time did government say that it has solved all the problems,” he said.