INCUMBENT Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano are both running for senator in the upcoming midterm elections, Senator Cynthia Villar confirmed Friday.
“We in the Nacionalista Party, we are just three [running for senators]— Pia Cayetano, Imee Marcos, and myself,” Villar told reporters.
She said Marcos, daughter of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, has already started going around the country.
The wife of NP’s founder, former Senate President Manny Villar, said she believes Imee’s brother, former Senator Bongbong Marcos, will not be running for the Senate, as he is focused on his ongoing electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.
“It seems he’s not [running]. I mean, I never say never, October is still far, but so far, that’s the ongoing talks,” said Villar, while referring to their filing of certificates of candidacy for next year’s elections.
Villar, as the Nacionalista chairperson, is hopeful that Imee will win in the polls.
“She has a big chance, of course. She’s minding the survey if Bongbong was included, because they’re two. Of course, that’s chaotic. It means the two will run so we don’t know whom to vote, Imee or Bongbong. But if she runs alone, she will win,” she explained.
Pressed on the political plans of her husband, Villar replied, “There’s a business plan, but no political plan.”
“They just thought because I’m always in Baseco [in Tondo, Manila]. they thought it’s a campaign [sortie]. That’s not a campaign. That’s the mandamus on Manila Bay,” the senator said.
“We have to clean up Manila Bay and I’m making Baseco a model or a pilot project. If we can clean Baseco, maybe we can clean the other poor areas along Manila Bay, Pasig River and Laguna Lake. We have to do a pilot project and show the people that it can be done,” she added.
“If we are not able to do a pilot, then we will think that nothing can be done. So we have to continue cleaning Baseco to show them that we can do better,” added Villar, who chairs the Senate environment committee.