DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan – Being the son of the brains behind martial law in the Philippines is probably the biggest issue hounding the vice presidential bid of Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
With the 30th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution falling within the campaign period, many are speculating on how this would affect his campaign.
For Marcos, the landmark anniversary of the revolution that ousted his father and their family from Malacañang does not have much of an effect on his candidacy.
“Dito sa kampanya na ito, hindi napapag-usapan. Ang media lang nagtatanong tungkol d'yan, ang amin lang katunggali,” Marcos told local reporters in Pangasinan on Friday, February 12.
(In this campaign, that issue is not brought up a lot. Only the media asks questions about that, and also our political rivals.)
He said that what locals ask him about during sorties are their practical concerns.
“When you talk to ordinary people, they do not ask that. What they ask is how can I help them uplift their lives, that they do not have a livelihood and the prices of goods keep on increasing,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“I think that is natural. Ang tao talaga ang gusto nila simple lang naman eh: Bakit kita iboboto, tutulungan mo ba ako? That’s the general sentiment that we get and we have to provide those answers,” he said. (What the public wants to know is simple: Why should I vote for you, are you going to help me?)
Asked how he feels about EDSA’s 30th anniversary, the son and namesake of Ferdinand Marcos hinted that it is time to move on.
“It is unfortunate to see that if you look at objective measures, instead of progressing, we have regressed in many, many ways since 1986,” he said.
‘Crucial’ Pangasinan vote
In his mission to consolidate the “Solid North vote,” the independent vice presidential candidate visited the vote-rich province of Pangasinan. Pangasinan has a voting population of over 1.7 million for the 2016 elections.
Marcos toured Dagupan, Mangaldan, and Calasiao, but the crowd's reception was not as overwhelming as during his Ilocos and La Union sorties.
Thursday’s Pangasinan tour is only the first of Marcos’ series of visits to the province as he said winning here is “very critical to a national candidate.”
“As I have said, we have to maintain what we have come to call as the Solid North –not only because Pangasinan has a huge volume of votes, but if we can solidly win the favor of the people from the North – we’re talking about Region I, Region II, parts of Region III – that’s a very big thing,” he said.
After Pangasinan, Marcos will head back to Manila to join Santiago in an event on Sunday, Valentine’s Day. – Rappler.com