MANILA – Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is firm on his presidential run as sister Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos fueled more speculation about a possible 2022 alliance between her brother and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
But in another interview, Sen. Imee Marcos said her brother’s camp was still scouting for a vice presidential candidate, adding it was willing to take Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao should he decides to slide down from president to vice president,.
Senator Imee said her brother is eyeing bets with bailiwicks in Visayas and Mindanao to explain why they are considering Pacquiao, among others, as runningmate.
Pacquiao, however, said that like Marcos Jr., he is all set for his presidential run in tandem with Deputy Speaker and former Manila Mayor Jose Lito Atienza Jr. and would not slide down.
Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Francisco Isko Moreno Domagoso said he is willing to unite with fellow presidential aspirants Vice President Maria Leonor Leni Robredo and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao if it means discussing how to address the country’s problems, not just how to win the elections.
Domagoso made the statement amid speculations on Mayor Sara Duterte joining forces with presidential aspirant and former senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos.
“If we are going to unite on the issues at hand and challenges of our people, then I’m willing, but if we’re going to unite just to win because they wanted to win, medyo hindi ako masyadong ano dun, eh (I’m not sure),” Moreno said.
This developed as former Senator Marcos came under fire anew for his claim that he graduated from the University of Oxford while his sister Imee was hit for alleged offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands.
Contrary to earlier claims, the University of Oxford confirmed that Marcos failed to complete his degree and did not graduate but secured a special diploma on political science.
Sen. Imee Marcos, meanwhile, admitted the offshore accounts but said they were education trust funds under her children’s names.
Marcos, eldest child of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, and her three sons were among the beneficiaries of the Sintra Trust, financial records of which were uncovered by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Records show that the accounts were formed in June 2002 in the British Virgin Islands.
According to the university’s Information Compliance Team, Marcos “did not complete his degree, but was awarded a Special Diploma in Social Studies in 1978.”
“We can confirm that a Ferdinand Marcos matriculated at the University of Oxford in 1975 to read for a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. According to our records, he did not complete his degree, but was awarded a Special Diploma in Social Studies in 1978,” the university said in a statement.
It added that a special diploma is “not a full graduate Diploma.”
Marcos was reported to have earlier claimed in his Senate profile and resume of having obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford.
