Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos is going to run for senator in the 2019 midterm elections, Senator Cynthia Villar confirmed earlier today.
In an interview with Karen Davila on ANC’s Headstart, Villar stated that Imee will be running for a Senate post because Bongbong, her brother, is not.
“Yes, she’s a go,” Villar said in the same interview, noting that Imee was in her last term as governor. “Only three of us are running for the Senate from the Nacionalista Party: [Taguig representative] Pia Cayetano, myself, and Imee Marcos.”
Villar added that the eldest daughter of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos has also been endorsed by Hugpong, which is the local party of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
In April, Villar was quoted by Manila Bulletin that Imee would have a higher chance of winning if Bongbong was not running in the senatorial race with her.
Imee has not confirmed her plans to run for senator, however, she said in February that she may be “forced” to run for public office because of her brother Bongbong’s ongoing electoral protest against the 2016 vice presidential results.
Bongbong claims that he was cheated by Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp.
The Marcos family remains influential in parts of the Philippines but is regularly criticized for the alleged human rights abuses that occurred during the Marcos dictatorship.
READ: Imee Marcos’ cheeky attempt at viral content backfires
Imee, in particular, was under fire last week for telling Filipinos to “move on” from the memories of the martial law her father instituted.
“The millennials have moved on, and I think people at my age should also move on as well,” Imee said. “I’m not an apologist to (sic) my dad, and I think his work and his project[s] will have to speak for themselves.”
Netizens and politicians blasted her for the remarks.
Opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan tweeted: “How can those who were unjustly detained, tortured and murdered move on when there is not (sic) remorse, not any act of atonement, not (sic) acceptance and recognition of wrongdoing on their [Marcoses] part?”
While one @MiaMagdalena wrote on Twitter: “Stupid. When your family’s in jail, when you return what you stole, when Marcos is taken out of Heroes’ Cemetery, then we move on.”
