ILOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Wednesday acknowledged that Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is considering her brother, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as her possible running mate in the 2016 elections.
Santiago announced her plan to run for President on Tuesday, the day she said she would have a vice president who had already declared his intention to run for the second highest elective position.
“Senator Miriam indicated that it is Bongbong she likes and that he had already filed [his certificate of candidacy], and that surprised and elated me,” Imee said.
She made her statement even as two vice presidential aspirants on Wednesday denied they were the ones being alluded to as Santiago’s possible running mates in next year’s elections.
Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano said they hadn’t talked to Santiago about the possibility of running with her in 2016.
Speaking at the Provincial Capitol after the presentation of the capture of one of Ilocos Norte’s four most wanted persons, Imee Marcos noted that her brother Ferdinand had always been “one of the favorite people of Senator Santiago in the Senate.”
She expressed her gratitude to all the Ilocanos who had shown their support to her brother’s bid for the vice presidency.
Marcos Jr. announced his plan to run for vice president in Intramuros, Manila, on Oct. 10, but does not have a presidential candidate to run with him.
Marcos on Wednesday said he was banking on his extensive experience in the executive department to convince the voters to elect him.
“I know most of them [his rivals for the vice presidency] and certainly they are qualified to run for the post, but I’m the only one who served as an elected official in the executive department, for one,” Marcos said.
Marcos started his career in the public service when he was elected vice governor of Ilocos Norte in 1981. Three years later he was elected governor of the province.
He served as representative of Ilocos Norte’s second district from 1992 to 1995, and then again as Ilocos Norte’s governor from 1998 to 2007.
He then again served as Ilocos Norte’s representative from 2007 to 2010, and then was elected senator.