Bongbong rants against Marcos loyalist Lozano

MANILA, Philippines - A visibly irate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. lashed out at Marcos loyalist Oliver Lozano for spreading stories about the supposed presidential bid in 2016 of the late dictator’s son and namesake.

Marcos said Lozano cannot speak on his behalf even as the latter represented himself as belonging to the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), the party formed by former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Lozano is the spokesman of the Pagkakaisa ng mga Pilipino para sa Pilipinas (PPP), a political coalition of the KBL and the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka (PMM). 

“Oliver Lozano is a joke. He is an operator and does (work for) the highest bidder,” Marcos said.

“Remember, Lozano was the one who filed a premature impeachment case against former President (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo just to derail the opposition’s bid to impeach her,” he added.

Marcos was reacting to a story in The STAR quoting Lozano as saying that the senator would officially declare his presidential bid during a visit in Mangaldan, Pangasinan.

“Such loose talks are only aimed to pressure me into deciding when I’ve not made up my mind yet,” Marcos said.

Marcos spoke out against Lozano in the presence of United National Alliance (UNA) president Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco during the Chinese embassy cocktail reception at the Makati Shangri-La Friday night on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Tiangco began talks with Marcos as a possible running mate of Vice President Jejomar Binay in next year’s elections.

Marcos has been figuring in surveys on preferred candidates for senator, vice president and president.

Tobias told The STAR that Binay gave him the go-signal to convince Marcos, who is touted as a possible presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP), to run instead as UNA’s vice presidential candidate.

Tiangco, head of the UNA committee tasked to recommend a vice presidential candidate, clarified he has not yet talked to or offered the VP slot to anyone in UNA’s ticket next year.

Tiangco, a cousin of Marcos, refused to reveal the results of their talk Friday night.

“I promised that whatever we talked about will be between both of us only,” he said.

Binay also earlier refused to confirm reports that Marcos would be his running mate.

“Let’s just wait for his (Marcos) announcement,” Binay said.

In a press conference at the City Hall of San Fernando City in La Union yesterday, Marcos said he would announce soon if he would run for a higher position in the 2016 elections.

“I ask for your patience. We will announce very soon. Speculations are very high now because the filing (of certificate of candidacies) is very near already,” he said.

Marcos could still run for reelection as senator but this option has apparently been rejected.

“I’ve been looking at all options two or three months ago but that reelection plan already stopped and we plan for higher position,” he said.

Marcos explained the NP has not decided yet what group it will be aligned with because this is one of the concerns that the party has to settle before announcing his plans.

Lozano blamed an unnamed public relations practitioner for feeding the wrong information about the PPP and its intention to field Marcos as their presidential standard-bearer. – With Jun Elias