Bongbong Marcos, Leni Robredo announce bids for PH vice president

FERDINAND “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., the son of late former president Ferdinand Marcos, and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, have joined the pool of Philippine vice presidential contenders for the 2016 presidential election.

Marcos, Jr., on Monday, Oct. 5, declared his bid for the position without attaching himself to a presidential candidate. Robredo, on Monday, formally accepted the offer to run alongside Liberal Party presidential contender Mar Roxas.

The announcement of the two new bids brings the total of vice presidential candidates to six. Other candidates for the post include Sens. Francis Escudero, Antonio Tillanes IV, Alan Peter Cayetano and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan.

Robredo is the only female candidate and contender from the House of Representatives.

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos

Marcos, in a statement announcing his bid, said he believes elected officials have an obligation to their people to help change the country’s history by eliminating “the politics of personality,” which he credits as a large reason the Philippines has become a corrupt state where the wealth divide continually widens.

“I have decided to put my political fortune in the hands of the Filipino people. I humbly ask them to judge whether or not I am worthy of their trust to be vice-president on the strength of my performance as a public servant in the last 26 years,” he said.

While there have been talks of Marcos pairing up with Vice President Jejomar Binay, he said they were “mere speculations.”

Binay was a human rights attorney who battled the dictatorship of Marcos’ late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos. The vice president was also an ally of former President Corazon Aquino, Marcos’ rival.

“Any team-up with the Vice President must be rooted on a shared vision for our country, a common platform of government as well as political perspectives,” Marcos said.

The vice presidential candidate did not address allegations of mass corruption and rights violations against his late father, The Associated Press reported. Every year, the Philippines still marks the anniversary of when the Marcos regime was overthrown in 1986 as a victory of democracy.

Leni Robredo

Robredo, the widow of former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, was initially hesitant about accepting Roxas’ offer, particularly given her three daughters’ opposition to her running for the position. However, she said she decided to move forward with it because she was certain it is what her husband would have wanted, Inquirer reported.

“I am not Jesse. But when he died, it was clear to us, his family, that he was hoping that we too will have to sacrifice to the best of our abilities, similar to his sacrifices, to contribute to our nation,” she told Inquirer.

As the sole female running for vice president, the Carminas Sur representative is likely to receive little criticism from her male rivals, Majority floor leader Neptali Gonzales II said in a press conference.

“It’s going to be a problem for the men in next year’s elections. In our culture, women are usually spared from criticism by men,” Gonzales said in Filipino, according to Inquirer.

Gonzales also called Robredo “a breath of fresh air” for the Liberal Party.

“Nakikita ko sa kaniya yung manner that she speaks, sincere at makikita mo ang kaniyang intelligence (I can see in the manner that she speaks that she is sincere, and you can see her intelligence),” Gonzales said, according to Inquirer.

Binay without a running mate

With the new announcements and as the 2016 election edges closer, Binay remains the only presidential candidate without a running mate.

The selection committee of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) announced Tuesday, Oct. 6, that it is formally requesting for Sen. Gringo Honasan to become Binay’s running mate in 2016, Philstar reported.

Honasan rejected a potential partnership with Binay in late September, but his party mates said he would probably change his mind for the UNA, where he serves as vice president, Rappler reported.

“Senator Honasan is very easy to talk to because he is a party member,” UNA Secretary-General JV Bautista previously told Rappler. “It just takes some negotiation. In the case of Senator Bongbong, it’s more complicated because he is a member of the Nacionalista Party.”

Binay had previously considered Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Sen. Grace Poe and Roxas as possible running mates, but each of them rejected offers to join him.

In August, Binay indicated Marcos was his preferred partner, despite contradictions that would exist given their political histories.

Should a Binay-Honasan partnership emerge, it would also contain its own set of discrepancies. Both politicians participated in support of the EDSA People Power Revolution that ousted former president Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, but Honasan led two unsuccessful coups against Aquino; Binay defended Aquino from those attempts.