President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is not grooming his eldest son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, to be a future Chief Executive, and the third from their clan after his father Ferdinand Sr.
The President also clarified that First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos has power over appointments in his administration, saying he “does not talk policy” with his wife but does ask her about her opinions on legal and organizational issues, being a veteran lawyer herself.
Mr. Marcos chuckled when asked about his son during a televised panel interview with journalists, saying: “No. We are not grooming him for anything. There is not some long-range plan that one day Sandro is going to be President.”
“He (Sandro) will laugh at your face if you tell him that,” the President added, noting the younger Marcos’ entry into politics last year was not a family decision.
“He is grooming himself. He has decided on this career, politics and he will handle it the way he does,” the Chief Executive said. “I think he has the same attitude as I do. I’ll work as hard as I can… I’ll take this as far as I can.”
Rep. Marcos joined several presidential trips as co-author of the proposed Maharlika Sovereign Fund, the President said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Marcos denied allegations the First Lady is an influential figure when it comes to appointing officials in key government posts.
“Zero. She really has no input on that,” he told journalists regarding allegations that Mrs. Marcos was involved in the upheavals in the military sector.
“We don’t talk policy together. She’ll comment, ‘That looks good. That doesn’t look good. I don’t know why you’re doing that… but not political decisions,” he said.
While he has the “best legal representation of any President”—with former Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin as his Executive Secretary and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as his chief presidential legal adviser—Mr. Marcos said he still seeks his wife’s advice on legal issues in some occasions.
“She doesn’t come to the office and sit with us. It’s usually legal definitions… That’s the kind of questions I ask,” he said, stressing the First Lady’s experience as a lawyer and a professor.
“The First Lady helps me in terms of the organization because she is very, very good at that: the office, how the workflow goes, where the documents go through. She’s a well-trained lawyer,” he said.
