MANILA, Philippines — The likelihood of winning a senatorial seat in next year’s mid-term polls does not excite the son and namesake of the late strongman. What he wants is to pursue his fight to be proclaimed as the country’s second highest leader.
“I am not running for Senate in 2019. Tatapusin ko ang petisyong ito dahil naniniwala ako na tapat ang aking laban [I will finish this petition because I believe that my fight is truthful],” Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced on Wednesday during the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay at Café Adriatico in Malate.
“I am determined to finish with this petition. Hindi ko titigilan ito [I will not stop this]”, he added.
Marcos is referring to the June 29, 2016 election case that he filed before the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), alleging that his closest poll rival, Leni Robredo, won the vice presidential race because of cheating.
What is important for him is find out the real results of the polls and who really won the race, according to Marcos.
“Ano ba talaga ang tamang resulta? Sino ba talaga ang nanalo? ‘Yon ang mahalaga.”
He said he won’t change his mind even if President Rodrigo Duterte would be the one endorsing his senatorial candidacy in 2018.
“Kahit i-endorse, that won’t stop me from (pursuing) the protest.”
“I don’t see any reason why I would change my mind. Why would I run for senator, I already won as vice president?” he added.
Meanwhile, Marcos decried the alleged “obvious bias” of Supreme Court Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa, the ponente of his election protest, “against him and in favor of” Robredo.
“It has now become fairly obvious that his resolutions are biased against me and biased in favor my oppositor,” he told reporters during the weekly forum.
Marcos said that while the PET is a collegial body composed of 15 justices of the high tribunal, it is allegedly Caguioa — who was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III and was the classmate of the ex-chief executive from elementary to college at the Ateneo De Manila University — “who decides and issues the minute resolutions regarding his protest.”
He claimed that Caguiao showed his alleged bias for Robredo when the latter’s deadline to pay P7 million for her counter-poll protest against Marcos was extended.
“Yong aking kalaban pinagbayad s’ya sa counter-protest n’ya ng P7 million pero hindi s’ya nagbayad. Pero binigyan s’ya ng extension. Pero hindi pa rin nakapagbayad at dinefer pa rin. Sa batas sinasabi kapag hindi pa nakapagbayad, idi-dismiss na ‘yong kaso,” said Marcos.
Another instance of Caguioa’s alleged prejudice was when he ordered Marcos to produce 8,000 witnesses for his third cause of action (annulment of votes in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan) within a non-extendable period of five days.
“However, after his legal team complied with the Order and submitted the names of the 8,000 witnesses within the non-extendable 5 day period, Caguioa merely deferred the resolution of his motion,” Marcos said.
“We produced 8,000 witnesses within five days. Pinuyatan namin iyan just to comply with his order. Pero anong ginawa? Imbes na i-take up, dinefer because siguro they hoped that kung hindi kami maka-come up ng 8,000 witnesses, idi-dismiss na lang pero nakapag-produce kami kaya hindi nila ma-dismiss,” he added.
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