SEN. Imee Marcos yesterday that will seek re-election in the midterm elections next year as she brushed aside rumors that she will run for mayor in the city of Manila or some other place.
“I am up for reelection in May next year, and despite many rumors that I am running for Manila City and other places, magpapare-elect lang ako (I will seek re-election),” Marcos said in a chance interview at the Senate.
The senator, elder sister of President Marcos Jr., she said she is not sure if she will join the administration’s senatorial in next year’s polls, or if she be included in it.
Marcos joined the administration lineup when she ran for senator in 2019 during the time of former President Duterte.
Lately, she is seen as an ally of Vice President Sara Duterte who quit the Marcos Cabinet last week and is having differences with her brother’s allies, mainly Speaker Martin Romualdez, their first cousin. The Vice President’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, has called Marcos Jr a drug user and addict.
The senator said the number of those eyeing a Senate seat can reach as high as 50, based on the senatorial slates of different political parties.
“May Lakas, may PFP (Partido Federal ng Pilipinas), marami eh, Napakarami, kaya nalilito ako. Pero tignan natin. Mahaba-haba pa naman ang panahon (There are candidates from Lakas [Christian Muslim Democrats], those from Partido Federal ng Pilipinas [the President’s political party]. There’s a lot that’s why I am confused. Anyway, we will see since the election is still far),” she added.
She also said that knowing the setting in Philippine politics, the final list of candidates usually comes up at “the last two minutes” which she likened to the last minutes in a basketball game.
NO COMPLICATIONS
Marcos said she does not see any “complications” in her campaign next year even if she is a known ally of the Vice President.
“For me, it will not be complicated. I was elected as a lawmaker, a senator. So, my job also calls for telling the truth. There will be those who will not be happy, there will be those who will be angry or will get hurt, but that is part of my job,” she said in Filipino.
Marcos earlier lamented the “UniTeam” platform, under which her brother and Duterte ran in the 2022 presidential elections, was shattered after the vice president resigned as education secretary.
Marcos reiterated she will continue to support the Vice President in all her endeavors.
“Whatever the fight is, whatever steps she will be take, whatever hardships she will encounter, I am with her,” she said.
Cracks in the UniTeam started when the elder Duterte started to criticize President Marcos.
Duterte’s sons — Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte – also joined in the criticism against the President.
President Marcos has shot back, saying fentanyl may have affected the elder Duterte’s mind.
OPPOSITION
Romualdez said the Vice President should be the one to declare that she is indeed the leader of the opposition and not Harry Roque, who was a spokesperson of her father.
“Well I guess that’s Mr. Harry Roque’s statements, but then I guess we’ll just have to hear it from the VP, if and when the time comes for her to make statements or to make any policy or statements on policies of the national government,” he told a press conference in Makati City.
Last week, opposition leader Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman laughed off Roque’s claim, saying the Liberal Party and its allies are the genuine opposition.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela), a member of the Makabayan bloc, has said the Vice President’s resignation from the Cabinet “is definitely a political move in preparation for the 2025 elections to set the stage for a potential power struggle between the Duterte and Marcos factions.”
The Speaker said he respects the Vice President’s personal decision to resign from the Cabinet and that he missed the “closer interactions that we had during the campaign.”
“But nonetheless, there’s politics and there’s personal (issues) and we only wish the Vice President nothing but the best,” said the Speaker, who was the younger Duterte’s campaign manager under the UniTeam ticket in 2022.
RIFT
Romualdez and the Vice President’s rift began last year after the House leadership removed her close ally, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, as senior deputy speaker following an alleged plot to oust the Speaker.
The elder Duterte then began attacking the administration over different issues, including Charter change and Congress’ move to strip the Office of the President of its confidential and intelligence funds which lawmakers realigned to the Philippine Coast Guard and other agencies at the forefront of protecting the country’s territorial integrity in the West Philippine Sea.
In an interview in Davao City last Sunday, the Vice President said she and the President are “still friendly with each other on a personal level.”
“Nagpunta ako sa opisina ni Pangulong Marcos at sabi ko sa kanya dala ko resignation letter ko. Maayos naman kanyang pagtanggap at maayos naman pagtapos ng aming pag-uusap (I went to President Marcos’ office and I told him I have my resignation letter and he accepted it well and we had a good discussion),” she said.
The Vice President said she did not consult her father, the former president, before resigning from the Cabinet. — With Wendell Vigilia
