Full Text: Inqanda With Vice Presidential Candidate Bongbong Marcos

To help its readers make informed decisions on election day, INQUIRER.net organized a series of individual interviews with the candidates and fielded questions from social media and chat apps.

INQUIRER.net last week sat down with Senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. to discuss his position as a frontrunner in the vice presidential race and to address accusations hurled against him and his family.

Marcos, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, reportedly has a strong showing in Northern Luzon, the bailiwick of his family. This is despite being hit by his fellow candidates for his family's alleged ill-gotten wealth.

In this interview with INQUIRER.net Editor in Chief John Nery and Chief of Reporters Kristine Sabillo last April 27, the senator and his son Ferdinand Alexander Sandro Marcos talked about the controversies surrounding their family. Marcos also shared his stand on various issues, including political dynasties.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

John Nery: Tonight we resume our series of interviews of the candidates for vice president. My name is John Nery, editor in chief of INQUIRER.net. It is my happy task to serve as your co-moderator for this evening. I will be joined by the Chief of Reporters of INQUIRER.net, she will also be doing hosting duties, Miss Tine Sabillo. Our guest tonight is the front-runner in the vice presidential race, vice presidential candidate and Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. better known as Senator Bong. Senator, welcome to INQUIRER.net and to our cozy little set.

Bongbong Marcos: Maraming salamat. Thank you very much. Happy to be here.

JN: We are live on Facebook. We are live on Youtube, from the Inquirer News Channel. We are also live on INQUIRER.net itself, the country's leading news website. We are carried in the chat apps space, as well. We are live on Line, we are also carried live on Viber, on WeChat, on FireChat, as well as Kakao. We are also on Twitter. You can follow us @inquirerdotnet and @team_inquirer. Tonight we are covered by the Philippine Daily Inquirer of course, as well as Inquirer Bandera, Radyo Inquirer, and INQUIRER.net. We will be on a slightly delayed-broadcast basis on Radyo Inquirer 990AM.

Senator, just a quick word about our format: we have three rounds of questions. Our first round will begin with questions sourced from our audiences on social media, after which we will have chance to ask follow-up questions. So every round is like that. In the third round, thanks to you, we will tweak our format a bit, we will invite your eldest son, Sandro, to join us in the third round to answer more questions. We are looking at around one hour and five minutes. We will end at around 7 p.m. I hope that alright with you.

BBM: That's fine with me.

JN: And one last thing, actually this is an appeal to the audience, you will see Tine and me consulting our phones from time to time. We are not being rude, we are listening very intently to Senator Marcos, but this is the way we get and receive and read your questions through our phones. So please, bear with us as we read our phones from time to time. Okay, so I think we are ready to roll. Senator, the first question is from Bulastog, his handle on Twitter is @limiricfire11. Bongbong Marcos, since you and Digong are leading in surveys, what would a Duterte-Marcos leadership mean in case he won?

BBM: Well, I hope, whatever, whoever, if I am elected vice president, I hope whoever the president might be, that it will be a leadership of partnership. I think it is very important that we establish - from the very beginning - a partnership amongst the different sectors of the society. And an example that needs to be shown is between the president and the vice president, especially if they are from different parties. Because in my view, that has been, in fact, my message throughout this campaign. Beyond the programs and policies I'd like to propose, is the need for national unity. And again that is something I feel is necessary, if we were to move the country forward.

We cannot move the country if we are factionalized, if there is too much in fighting, if it's all politics. If it's all politics, then we are stuck there. Hindi na tayo makakaabante. Hindi na tayo aahon. So that would be what I would work towards. I have been ask what if you have - you are elected vice president. And the president is not from you party or is not your partner. Then I said, the first I would do is, if I am voted as the vice president, the first thing I will do is to go to the president and say, I'm here, as your partner in progress for the country. I truly believe that that is an important part. Secondly, the part that I think is important is to return excellence in governance. We have suffered under the mediocrity of governance, I think it's now time to return the excellence in governance. People who are talented; people who have experience, who know their job, who are effective, who are inspired in new ideas to solve problems that our people face. That is the kind of partnership. That is the kind of attitude with which I think we should approach governance.

JN: Senator, we will have the chance to ask follow-up questions in the first round, but we'll devote the few minutes first to questions from social.

Kristine Sabillo: Good evening, senator. Thank you for joining us. This is a question from Dina Esteban from Facebook. This is very timely after the vice presidential debate. She's asking, what can you do with the contractual and probationary employees in this country? What would you implement so that it would be favorable to them?

BBM: Well, I have spoken on this several times now. I am opposed to this development that we have now for our workers. There is now the Endo, the 555, the contractualization. This does not provide any security for tenure to our workers which is actually a guarantee that is embodied in our labor code. For whatever reason, this government has chosen to ignore that. Furthermore, this also denies benefits that again are guaranteed in law. That's why when asked which department I would ask for, if I am elected vice president, I would ask for DOLE, and because I want to look into that, and find a way to work with management, to work with the big corporations, so that we can find a way, of course, to compromise, and still providing that security of tenure, na hindi naman every five to six months. Hindi mo alam kung may trabaho ka pa o hindi, at yung mga benepisyo, yung mga medical plan, dental plan, mga benefits, scholarships, that sort of thing, that in the labor code is actually guaranteed, so kailangan din natin alalayan ang ating mga manggagagwa, ang mga nagtatrabaho. And then again the support for our OFWs is really something we need to pay attention to. The remittances of our OFWs comprise now 20 percent, or one-fifth of our economy which is really large. And we are calling them Bagong Bayani, but the way we treat them is not very good. That disconnect. We really need to correct, that something again that require our attention and our concern.

JN: Senator, another question about your candidacy, this one is from Klaus @klaus_19, also from Twitter, My question for Bongbong Marcos, why should we vote you to become our vice president?

BBM: I feel that number one, I think I am most experienced candidate, and unlike the other candidates, I have been through not just the legislature, but also I have been in executive positions, as governor for 12 years, when you put it all together. And that in the executive position, I got used to the idea that you go out you actually do things. I have a firm belief that our legislatures have done a good job of addressing the problems and writing laws and passing laws, where we fail is often in the implantation of these, and that's why I should like to return in the executive, and try to help in implementing those laws that we just spoke about. The labor code is a perfect example. The law is a good law. It covers all the elements that need to be covered and yet we are not implementing it properly. This applies to many other areas - not only in the economy.

Secondly, beyond that I always describe that our problems our people face are dikit sa sikmura, in other words, livelihood, jobs, the prices of commodities, that sort of thing, and this is something how I feel that I having something to offer because I had some trainings, I studied economics, as I have said, I administered, and been a nick in the executive position and had to care for a local economy and watch it grow and nurture it. And with that experience, with that training, I think I have a great to offer in improving the lives of our people, through making the economy grow and making it more equitable. The distribution of wealth is something that we have very, very large problems with. The lack of stable middle class is something that should really be looked into, the social cause of that. Those kinds of some things I have good understanding on and can offer many ideas and proposals, so that we can improve that situation. From those two I think, from the experience in the executive, experience in government, and also the training that I've had, and the experience with the economy and economic issues.

KS: The left is in the news again especially with Mayor Duterte, the Filipinos know about the history of your family with the left. Nokee Villanueva is asking, How can you address the insurgency and how would you be able to encourage the left or the communist movement to return and be law-abiding citizens?

BBM: Well, I think, that is to address their concerns. Generally, what happens is that when the time that insurgent movement can prosper, is if that community, that area, that population has been ignored or neglected by the government. If the service of the government do not go all the way to the people, if there are injustices that are not corrected and that are not seen to by the government, if there is little hope. If a person -...