'Faceless' Bongbong files COC, says being a Marcos not a liability

Clad in a striking red shirt, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. on Saturday filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for a Senate seat in 2010, but had to go back minutes later after failing to submit the required photos together with his documents. Marcos, Jr., son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, submitted his COC at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office in Intramuros, Manila at 2 p.m. However, the poll body's receiving officers refused to accept Bongbong's documents due to lack of the required 1 ½" x 1 ½" pictures. The representative, urged by the media to pose with his COC, said: “Wala pang picture eh. (It doesn’t have pictures yet)." He later agreed to do the photo-op, posing in front of photojournalists holding his COC with a 3R-size picture attached to the document using a paper clip. Minutes later, Bongbong returned to the Comelec office with the required photos. His COC was officially received by the poll body at 2:53 p.m. Marcos Jr. does not think that being the son of the late strongman will become a liability to his candidacy. Bongbong will be the guest candidate of the Nacionalista Party, headed by its standard-bearer, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. “Nothing is hounding me. I am very proud and I feel very luck to be a Marcos," Bongbong told reporters after filing his COC. “The fact that my name is Ferdinand Marcos has been nothing but advantageous to my entire political career," he added. If elected in the Senate, the 52-year-old congressman, whose family faces several ill-gotten wealth cases, said he focus on the fight against corruption, the promotion of education and the improvement of the economy. “’Yan ay kailangan nating gawan na paraan na ‘yung mga salbahe sa pamahalaan ay hindi mapabayaang gawin ang kanilang mga ginagawa (We have to do something so that corrupt government officials will no longer be free to do as they please)," he said. Marcos, Jr. filed his COC just hours after Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III formalized his bid for the presidency in the coming elections. The Marcos and Aquino families have been bitter political rivals for decades. President Marcos was replaced by the late President Corazon Aquino in a popular uprising in 1986. Marcos, Jr. has served two terms at the House of Representatives, and was previously governor of Ilocos Norte. - ANDREO C. CALONZO, TJD/ARCS, GMANews.TV