LAST Friday, September 24, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) nominated Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Romualdez Marcos, Jr., as its presidential candidate.
Bongbong thanked the KBL for the nomination but did not formally accept it as of yet.
Last Wednesday, September 22, Manila City Mayor ‘Isko’ Moreno announced his running mate for Vice President – Dr. Willie Ong under the Aksiyon Demokratiko.
The first tandem to be announced was that of Senators Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson and Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto. This was formally launched under the Partido Reporma on Wednesday, September 8.
Over the past few months, the split in the administration party, PDP – Laban, has played out.
The Cusi faction nominated Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go and President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. However, last Thursday, September 23, only Duterte filed his acceptance of the nomination which is necessary for the filing of his certificate of candidacy for vice president at the COMELEC.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio has already announced that she would not run for a national position. She explained that her father and she had an understanding that only one of them would run for a national position.
The original Pimentel PDP Laban faction nominated Senator Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Dapidran Pacquiao for president and left the choice of the party’s vice - presidential candidate to him.
We have a week and a half to go before the deadline for filing certificates of candidacy.
However, we still have seven weeks before the deadline for substituting candidates of political parties. Independent candidates will not have the opportunity of substitution.
Meanwhile, we await the decision of Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Gerona Robredo. We await as well the decision of 1Sambayan as to who they will nominate both for president and vice president.
I sense that a strong factor in Leny’s decision making process is the possibility of a Marcos return to power.
The Marcoses have come a long way since the Enrile – Ramos split (withdrawal of support) and People Power at EDSA I overthrew President turned dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos and installed Corazon ‘Cory’ Cojuangco Aquino in a Revolutionary Government on February 25, 1986.
In the first national (May 1987) and local elections (January 1988) under the 1987 ‘Cory’ Constitution, politicians and voters alike abandoned the Marcoses.
Candidates and political parties identified with the Aquinos won overwhelmingly except in the Ilocano and Waray regions.
Since then, Marcoses and Romualdezes have consistently won as representatives and local government officials in Ilocos Norte and Leyte.
In the May 1992 simultaneous elections, there were 32,141,079 registered voters. 24,254,954 or 75.46 % votes were cast. 22,654,195 or 93.40 % of the votes cast were valid in so far as the presidential race was concerned. 20,420,169 were valid in so far as the vice presidential race was concerned.
There were seven major candidates both for president and vice president:
- Lakas NUCD – Fidel V. Ramos (23.58 %)/Lito Osmena (16.47 %)
- PRP – Miriam Defensor Santiago (19.72 %)/Ramon ‘Jun’ Magsaysay (14.20 %)
- NPC – Eduardo Cojuangco (18.17 %)/Joseph Estrada (33.01 %)
- LDP – Ramon V. Mitra (14.64 %)/Marcelo Fernan (21.74 %)
- KBL – Imelda Romualdez Marcos (10.32 %)/Vicente Magsaysay (3.43 %)
- LP – Jovito Salonga (10.16 %)/Aquilino Pimentel (9.91 %)
- NP – Salvador P. Laurel (3.30 %)/Eva Estrada Kalaw (1.25 %)
If the Marcoses had put up just one candidate, they could have won, unless one or two of the Aquino candidates withdrew in favor of the stronger one.
In 1995, Bongbong ran for Senator as a guest candidate of the NPC slate and came out # 16th with 31.7 % of the valid votes.
In 2010, Bongbong ran again and came out # 7 with 34.52 % of the valid votes. In 2016, Bongbong ran for vice president and got 34.47 % of the valid votes.
He lost by a small margin to Leni. Bongbong filed an electoral protest before the Vice - Presidential Electoral Tribunal and lost again.
In 2019, Senator Maria Imelda Josefa ‘Imee’ Romualdez Marcos ran and came out # 8 and got 33.58 % of the valid votes.
Since there will be at least four presidential candidates including himself in May 2022, Bongbong has a fighting chance to win the race.
Although Duterte did not appear to have assisted Bongbong in his electoral protest against Robredo, among the present list of candidates, he will be the least dangerous to the Duterte Family and the one with the biggest ‘utang na loob’.
If Duterte does not have a presidential running mate and Sara does not run, the Duterte’s may support Bongbong.
On the under hand, the threat of a Marcos returning to the presidency will help Leni mobilize support for her run.
By running, Bongbong has brought back the issues of Martial Law and corruption.
The struggle between Marcos and Aquino is not laid to rest. Leni is the proxy of the Aquinos and the symbol of the anti - Marcos forces.
If Marcos, Sara and Bong Go were not to run, Leni could very well be left behind.
The older Lacson – Sotto tandem has positioned itself in the center. Manny and Isko belong to a younger generation with hardly any connections to Martial Law and EDSA I.