Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he has yet to make a decision as to which national post he will seek in next year’s elections following his nomination by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) as its standard beare.
Marcos thanked the KBL, the political party created by his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, for the nomination, but said he is still undecided whether to run for president in the 2022 polls.
“I am overwhelmed by the expressions of support and the endorsement you have given me today,” he said in a taped speech that was aired during KBP’s national convention yesterday.
“I thank them [KBL] for that expression of support and trust they have bestowed…I don’t know that you can interpret it as an acceptance,” he said in a separate online forum after the KBL event.
Marcos has been a member of the Nacionalists Party since 2019.
He said he is still seeking alliances for the polls and talking to “everybody who is in the mix,” including the rival PDP-Laban factions headed by President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
“There had been many, many informal talks because on both sides. They are all my friends. We have been talking for a long time. It’s something that’s just ongoing,” he said.
“The final decision on how to do it – it will be out soon. Plans are slowly being built because a national candidacy is a different kind of candidacy,” he said. “We are very, very, very close to announcing.”
Aside from KBL, the Labor Party of the Philippines, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, and Kapisanan ng Pamilyang Pilipino have also urged Marcos to run for president.
During its national convention held in Tupi, South Cotabato earlier this week, the PFP passed a resolution endorsing Marcos as its presidential candidate for the May 2022 national elections.
PFP General Council George Briones told Marcos during their meeting that PFP was relatively young at three years old compared to the older political parties in the country, but it was not involved in any corruption or criminal cases, thus “does not carry any excess baggage.”
“If Senator Bongbong Marcos decides to join the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas and he will take his oath as a member of PFP, we will call another national convention before the end of September where he will be nominated as the official candidate of the PFP for president,” Briones said.