Marcos: I am running for vice president

STATEMENT OF SEN. FERDINAND “BONGBONG” MARCOS, JR

I have decided to run for Vice President in the May 2016 elections.

All these talks of teaming up with certain leading presidential candidates have been mere speculations.

I flew to Davao City on Wednesday and consulted with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. He was gracious enough to promise me his support should I decide to run for Vice President. I too will support Mayor Duterte if and when he runs for President.

Regarding Vice President Jejomar Binay, I was invited to be his Vice-Presidential candidate. There were initial talks between our supporters. But any team up with the Vice President must be rooted on a shared vision for our country, a common platform of government as well as political perspectives.

Unfortunately it would be difficult for me to tame our political differences.

For one thing, I believe that elected officials have an obligation to our people to help change the course of our nation’s history by banishing the politics of personality which to me is one of the primary causes why our country today has become a soft state where the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, graft and corruption is endemic, the drug menace pervades, injustice is the norm and government incompetence is accepted.

Consequently, I have decided to put my political fortune in the hands of the Filipino people. I humbly ask them to judge whether or not I am worthy of their trust to be Vice President on the strength of my performance as a public servant in the last 26 years: first as former Vice Governor and Governor of Ilocos Norte, then as Representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte and, finally, as Senator of the country.

Thank you and may God bless us all.

On eve of BBL submission to Senate, stray bullet hits Marcos satellite office

MANILA - On the eve of his submission of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) for plenary debate, a "stray-bullet" hit the front glass panel of the satellite office of Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos on Sunday at Sunset View Tower, Roxas Blvd., Manila.

"I don't think it is related to BBL. I am hoping there's no connection. It's not a good thing to speculate when we don't know everything about this incident," Marcos told journalists while police officers were conducting an investigation.

Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, is to submit the final draft committee report on the proposed BBL for plenary debates.

After submission, the Senate will conduct an all-senators caucus to tackle the timeline of its passage.

"We don't know what this incident is trying to tell us. As I said, I hope it is just a stray bullet, and not an indication that we are the ones being targeted," Marcos said.

Based on the report by Sofronio P. Romatan, 47, on-duty security guard of PSVSIA Security Agency, he found the bullet hole on the glass pane in front of Marcos' satellite office on Sunday afternoon, at around 3:25 p.m.

"I had gone to fetch some water to drink. When I returned, I saw the hole on the glass pane made apparently by a bullet," Romatan said.

Operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Southern Police District arrived to investigate the incident.

Marcos said that few months ago, a Tamaraw Revo van assigned to his office was also hit by a bullet at right side window.

"It makes us wonder why these things happen," Marcos said.