President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his meeting with members of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP). Screengran from RTVM / Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that he wants to talk to people who think that his presidential bid was the outcome of a well-thought-out strategy, arguing that his group struggled against many stumbling blocks and mistakes.
Marcos during an exclusive interview with known supporter and actress Toni Gonzaga aired on Tuesday — the President’s 65th birthday — said that he saw comments from those who believed his return to Malacañang was a product of many years of preparation.
According to the President, critics are giving them far too much credit.
“Natatawa ako kung minsan [I just laugh sometimes when] I see the comments that ‘pinagplanuhan nila ng taon-taon ito [they have planned it for a long time], it’s a long-term plan.’ You know, I’d like to talk to them and say you give us too much credit, if only you knew all the stumbling blocks that came in our way, all the mistakes that we made,” Marcos told Gonzaga.
Even though he ranked highly in the surveys, the President said he did not feel confident and did not anticipate a landslide victory. When asked about his overwhelming popularity in the May 2022 presidential election, he expressed utter surprise.
Marcos won over 31 million votes in the last elections, much more than his closest rival, former vice president Leni Robredo, who received 15 million votes.
“I know, that’s remarkable. I was awe-shocked, of course we’re always studying the surveys, we’re always looking at the figures. We say it looks good, it looks like it’s going to be okay. I didn’t allow myself to do that, all through the campaign I said, ‘relax, you’re not gonna win yet,’” Marcos said.
“(Sinasabi ko) ‘hindi, survey pa lang ‘yan, hindi pa boto ‘yan.’ Gano’n ako lagi. Kahit na maganda ‘yong numero, kahit na maganda ang response ng tao, sabi ko ‘hindi pa ‘to, wala pa ‘yong eleksyon.’ So when we were watching the figures, I said ‘so far it makes sense’ and they kept telling (me) ‘congratulations.’ Sabi ko ‘hindi ‘wag muna mag-congratulations,’” he added.
Marcos’s own team advised him that even if the remaining 12 million votes were transferred to any of his opponents, they would not be able to catch up, and this was the moment that sealed the deal.
Marcos reassured the public, however, that he recognizes the huge number of votes he received as evidence of the confidence Filipinos have in him and will use this to motivate him to work for the benefit of the country.
“It always comes (down) to this vote, this kind of support, embedded nga in that is the hope of people, ‘please do something good.’ And the thought that kept going in my head, paikot-ikot sa aking pag-iisip [it hovers at the back of my mind], I said ‘we better do well, these people are counting on you, all of these people went out of their way to give you their vote, the most valuable thing that they can give is trust,’” he said.
“You must remember that that measure of support comes with a measure of hope and trust, and we cannot betray that, so we must work very, very hard and we have to get it right,” he added.
Avoiding politics
Marcos also provided Gonzaga with some insights into his political career, after the actress and television host asked him if he expected to become president while he was young, considering that his father, late former president Ferdinand E. Marcos, was a head of state himself.
The younger Marcos said that he tried to avoid politics out of fear of being overshadowed by his political powerhouse father.
After more than 20 years in power, the elder Marcos was overthrown in a peaceful revolution in 1986, and his family, including the current President, were forced into self-exile in Hawaii, United States.
“Ang naririnig ko no’ng bata ako, [what I hear] when I was still very young — I am talking about single digit young, I’m talking about seven years old, eight years old, and I think I’ve described it before, because my father was so dominant in the political arena, ako naman sinasabi ko hindi na ako papasok d’yan [I would tell myself I would never enter politics]. In fact umiiwas talaga ako sa pulitika eh [I was avoiding politics],” the President said.
“Well circumstances are what they are, I ended up here. Para sa akin hindi ‘yong ‘gusto kong magpresidente kahit ano’ng mangyari, kasi ‘yan lang gagawin ko sa buong buhay ko, magpe-presidente ako [It wasn’t like I wanted to be president whatever the cost maybe]. It was never like that. It was really more like, ‘well nandito na ako, napunta na ako sa pulitika, ‘yon sabi ko eh nandito na tayo eh, pagbutihan mo na lang, just keep going, go as far as you can take it until we reached the presidency [It has come to this moment, I am now in politics, I just want to do it better],” he added.
On the celebration of his 65th birthday, President Marcos chose to begin the day by leading the simultaneous planting of bamboo trees in San Mateo, Rizal.
He then signed Executive Order No. 4 which allowed a one-year moratorium on the unsettled payments of agrarian reform beneficiaries. The Chief Executive also visited the White Cross Orphanage and other Department of Social Welfare and Development centers to celebrate his day.
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