Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday revealed that he wanted President Rodrigo Duterte to be his running mate in the 2022 elections, but plans fell through due to the latter’s decision to retire.
Bongbong, only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said his party wanted to adopt the strongman Duterte to his party.
The former senator is running under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, a pro-Duterte party. Duterte is from PDP-Laban.
“I’ll be very candid with you. The reason [why I don’t have a running mate yet] is, the original plan was for us to adopt PRRD for our vice president candidate,” Marcos said after he filed his certificate of candidacy for president.
“Pero sa mga nangyari noong nakaraang Sabado e nagbago lahat ng plano, kaya’t ngayon e nag-konsulta kami, ‘yung partido at syempre lahat nung mga ating ibang kasamahan na kung anong dapat gawin,” he added.
Duterte on Saturday retracted his plan to pursue the vice presidency and announced his retirement from politics, supposedly adhering to the public’s will.
Running in Duterte’s stead under PDP-Laban is his long-time aide, Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
With Duterte dropping out of the race, Marcos said he’s open to forming an alliance with Go.
“Paano ‘yun? Bongbong-Bong? Bong to the third power? Baka pwede din, we’ll see,” he quipped. John Ezekiel J. Hirro