Bongbong: Surname not an issue

MANILA, Philippines - The Marcos name and all its baggage would not be an issue when he runs for the vice presidency next year, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said yesterday.

However, he is “not inclined to back out from discussions regarding the non-issue topic,” but would rather talk about more pressing matters in the country, Marcos said in a statement.

“We should prioritize the issues that the common people are thinking about every day,” he said.

Marcos cited examples like the proliferation of illegal drugs, the high price of basic goods and services, graft and corruption and unemployment.

Issues regarding his family background are something that matters only to politicians and certain groups and not the masses, he said.

“Here in Manila, it is the traffic, MRT, telecommunications and even the slow Internet… that should be addressed first because these are what the people are waiting for and expect the government to solve,” he said.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who has chosen Marcos as her running mate, said it is still important to go over the details of martial law “so we will know what path we shall take for the millennials.”

“Many people did not mind the imposition of martial law at first,” she said.

“In the first few years, there was much more order in the streets, but eventually I think that martial law did not proceed as intended.”

Discussions on martial law would persist because it continues to provide an insight about how the period shaped the future of the nation, she added.

Santiago does not believe the Marcoses, as a family, owe the country an apology for martial law.

“In the first place, it was not the case that President Marcos, the father, pooled all the Marcoses in one table and they all decided jointly to do certain activities that were later viewed with disinterest or distaste or even outright criticism by other Filipinos,” she said.

“That was not the case, they did not agree as a family to sit down and say: ‘Okay, let us do this. Let us set up curfews. Let us regulate the issuance of firearms and so on.’ That was not the case. This was all a result, not of a familial discussion, but a result of policy decisions of the executive department of the government – President Marcos and his advisers.” 

Meanwhile, Marcos believes he is taking a huge political risk in running for vice president next year.

He will face four strong candidates, including three of his colleagues in the Senate.

Sen. Francis Escudero is the running mate of Sen. Grace Poe, while Sens. Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano are running as independent candidates.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo is the running mate of Roxas of the Liberal Party.