DAPITAN CITY, Zamboanga del Norte -- Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reiterated he is not running for senator next year, even as he consolidates supporters through the Marcos Loyalist Movement (MLM) throughout the country.
Marcos arrived here on Thursday to oversee the oath-taking of MLM-Zamboanga del Norte Chapter officials led by the Jalosjos family, and that of Misamis Occidental chapter led by Rep. Henry Oaminal of the province's second district.
“I am just consolidating the resurgence of our supporters, but it is (Governor) Imee (Marcos) who will run for senator,” he said, adding that he is determined to fight to the end his electoral protest against Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo.
Marcos said the recount is on its second year now and is still counting the votes from Iloilo, which is the second of the pilot provinces where his camp wanted ballots in the 2016 elections recounted.
“There are a lot of factors that delayed the proceedings,” he said, “among of which are Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa's great deal of bias, partisanship towards Robredo--and we still don't have a chief justice.”
Marcos said that he filed a petition for Caguioa's inhibition as justice-in-charge of the case on August 6, but was reportedly rejected by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) on Monday, August 20.
“Those are among the things that delayed the case, but hopefully it will be resolved soon and we will have a new chief justice by the end of September, hopefully all of the issues will now be taken,” Marcos said.
He said his sister, Imee, will also be coming here on Tuesday, August 28, to attend the oath-taking of officials and members of the newly-forged alliance between Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte's Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) and the Aggrupation of Parties for Progress (APP), a political party in Zamboanga del Norte led by the Jalosjos family and former Gov. Rolando Yebes. (PNA)
