3 Marcoses to run in 2010 polls

Three members of the Marcos family will seek elective posts in next year’s automated elections. Leading them is their matriarch, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who is gunning for a congressional seat in the second district of Ilocos Norte against Mariano Nalupta Jr., former vice governor of the province. According to Ilocos Norte’s Office of the Provincial of Election Supervisor, the 80-year-old Imelda filed her COC at 10:55 p.m. on Tuesday, the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) for the 2010 elections. Imelda’s children, Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee" Marcos, meanwhile, will run for senator and governor, respectively. Bongbong, 52, the incumbent representative of Ilocos Norte, filed his COC last Saturday, while Imee, 54, filed her COC on Tuesday through an authorized representative. Bongbong first served as Ilocos Norte 2nd district congressman from 1992 to 1995. He also served as Ilocos Norte governor from 1983 to 1986 and from 1998 to 2007, and vice governor from 1980 to 1983. Imee, on the other hand, had served as representative of the second district of Ilocos Norte for three terms, from 1998 to 2007. She was also an assemblywoman in the province from 1984 to 1986. Bongbong and Imee are guest candidates of the Nacionalista Party, while Imelda will run under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, the party founded by her husband, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Bongbong said being a scion of a president whose administration is marred with alleged corruption and human rights violations does not trouble him. “Nothing is hounding me. I am very proud and I feel very luck to be a Marcos. The fact that my name is Ferdinand Marcos has been nothing but advantageous to my entire political career," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV