ILOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Wednesday confirmed her plan to run as senator in 2019.
At the weekly Kamuning Bakery’s Pandesal Forum in Quezon City, Marcos, the eldest daughter of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., said she is thinking of joining the senatorial race.
Despite such, she said, she has yet to consult with her mother, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, and the other close relatives as well.
She dismissed speculations that hers or even her brother’s bid to run for a national office is a way to redeem the legacy of her father.
“To run for a political office has nothing to do with one’s legacy. A legacy is a legacy. No one can erase that,” she said.
She, however, denied that she and her brother, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., went to Panagbenga Festival in Baguio City to campaign, saying some critics were just amplifying the issue against them.
She even thanked the so-called “Solid North” show of unity of many Ilocano people in Baguio.
Despite criticisms against the Marcos family, the Ilocos Norte governor said her father’s legacy can “stand on its own and will be judged generation by generation.”
“Look at the dams, the irrigations, the rural electrifications, the highways. All those will remain as they are [even if time passes by],” she added.
She said the solid accomplishments of massive infrastructure, socioeconomic welfare programs and a more independent foreign policy of the Philippines befriending the world’s superpowers were just proof of their father’s legacy, and that “nothing they—his children—shall do or not do, to change his legacy.”
She said the Marcos family has endured 32 years of criticisms hurled against their father.