Manila: Governor Imee Marcos, daughter of former President Ferdinand Marcos who ruled from 1965 till his ouster by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986, revealed plans to join the Senate race in 2019.
The move makes her the second of the surviving Marcoses to ascend to the upper House of Congress, following the victory of her brother Ferdinand Jr. in the Senate in 2010.
ALSO READ:
• Senator attempts to end row over Marcos wealth compromise
• Marcos wealth spread all over Europe - lawyers
• Marcos funds moved from HK to Germany
• Philippines’ Duterte says dictator Marcos is a hero
“I’m thinking of running for the Senate in 2019. It’s still 50/50. I have to consult with my mother (Congresswoman Imelda Romualdez Marcos) and other advisers,” Governor Marcos of Ilocos Norte, northern turf of her father, told Gulf News during a Kamuning Bakery Café conference in Metro Manila’s suburban Quezon City.
Her plan to be in the Senate, and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos’ failed bid for the vice presidency in 2016 have “no hidden agenda” to rehabilitate the legacy of the former strongman Marcos, said Gov. Marcos.
Earlier, former Senator Marcos said he would not run for the Senate in 2019. He has a pending electoral complaint at the Senate, contesting the narrow victory of Vice President Leni Robredo by 263,473 votes in the 2016 vice presidential race.
Although a reluctant candidate, Governor Marcos revealed three favourite advocacies in case she bags a Senate seat in 2019: construction of modern nationwide and provincial public transportation systems to benefit rural economy; subsidised goods for poor families; and reforms for more jobs.
Reacting to critics who claimed she and her brother Ferdinand were campaigning for electoral seats when seen at the Panagbenga (Flower) Festival in Baguio City, northern Luzon late February, Marcos said, “They were exaggerating.”
'Solid North'
But she gushed at the “warm welcome” that she and her brother received from Baguio residents, adding, “It was a sign that the solid North is still alive.”
She referred to the north’s re-kindling of political preference for the former strongman Marcos who established a national martial law from 1972 to 1981.
The old Marcos’ legacy “can stand on its own because of his solid accomplishments in massive infrastructures, socioeconomic welfare programs, and independent foreign policy of befriending the world’s big powers,” argued Gov. Marcos.
She added that she, her siblings, and her mother need not do anything to change their patriarch’s legacy “for future historians and generations to judge dispassionately and objectively”.
“The Marcos family has endured 32 years of criticisms from political foes,” said Gov. Marcos, adding, “We are grateful that more people, especially the millennials and the youth are giving due recognition to the contributions of President Marcos to nation-building and development.”
Out-of-court settlement
Representatives of her family and President Rodrigo Duterte should “thresh out soonest” the proposed out-of-court settlement of Marcos’ alleged ill-gotten wealth, said Gov. Marcos, adding her family “trusts” Duterte to put to good use, for the people, any amount returned by the Marcos family. She did not give details.
After the strongman’s ouster in 1986, he was alleged to have $35 billion ill-gotten wealth, apart from an estimated $5 billion worth of gold bullion stashed in Kloten, Switzerland.
Now, the Marcos alleged ill-gotten wealth is estimated at $10 billion.
The ouster of Marcos in 1986 prompted him and his family to live-in-exile in Hawaii where he died in 1989. Surviving Marcos family members were allowed to return home in 1991.
Former first lady Imelda failed in a presidential bid in 1992.
The well-preserved remains of Marcos were allowed to return to his northern homeland in 1993. Despite a Supreme Court ruling in August 2016, activists and rights groups blamed Duterte for the burial of the Marcos’ remains at the National Heroes Cemetery in Metro Manila’s suburban Taguig in September 2016.
“I’m thinking of running for the Senate in 2019. It’s still 50/50. I have to consult with my mother (Congresswoman Imelda Romualdez Marcos) and other advisers,” Governor Marcos of Ilocos Norte, northern turf of her father, told Gulf News during a Kamuning Bakery Café conference in Metro Manila’s suburban Quezon City.
Her plan to be in the Senate, and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos’ failed bid for the vice presidency in 2016 have “no hidden agenda” to rehabilitate the legacy of the former strongman Marcos, said Gov. Marcos.
Earlier, former Senator Marcos said he would not run for the Senate in 2019. He has a pending electoral complaint at the Senate, contesting the narrow victory of Vice President Leni Robredo by 263,473 votes in the 2016 vice presidential race.
Although a reluctant candidate, Governor Marcos revealed three favourite advocacies in case she bags a Senate seat in 2019: construction of modern nationwide and provincial public transportation systems to benefit rural economy; subsidised goods for poor families; and reforms for more jobs.
