Snub for snub? President Marcos makes no mention of Manang Imee in Cavite rally

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. takes his role as campaigner for the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas Senate slate seriously.

The slate’s major rallies, after all, are scheduled around his availability. In his rather lengthy campaign stump speech, the President makes it a point to highlight all the qualifications of his 12-person slate before he begins criticizing their rivals, labeling them as pro-China, pro-drug war violence, and pro-POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operator).

So it was telling — or surprising — when on Friday, March 21, the President left out at least one name when he campaigned for his slate in vote-rich Cavite: his sister, reelectionist Senator Imee Marcos, who skipped the sortie.

Not once in the President’s speech did he mention his sister, even in portions where he went on about the vast experience of his slate in the legislature and executive.

Here’s part of the President’s speech delivered at Trece Martires, based too on an official transcript from the Palace:

“Alam ‘nyo po, hindi po sila mga baguhan. Ilan po sa kanila ay dumaan na po sa Senado, dati pong mga senador. Nandiyan po si dating – si Senador Cayetano. Nandiyan si Senator Lacson, Senator Lapid, Senator Pacquiao, Senator Revilla, Senator Tolentino, at Senator Sotto.”

(None of them are newbies. Some of them have been in the Senate, were once senators. There’s former — Senator [Pia] Cayetano. There’s Senator [Ping] Lacson, Senator [Lito] Lapid, Senator [Manny] Pacquiao, Senator [Bong] Revilla, Senator [Francis] Tolentino, and Senator [Tito] Sotto.)

“At ‘yung ilan po ay dumaan din po  sa mababang kapulungan. Sa naging congressman din po, nandiyan po Congressman Abalos, Congressman Binay, Congressman Cayetano, Congressman Pacquiao, Congressman Tulfo, Congressman Villar, ‘yan po ang ating mga naging kasamahan. ‘Yung iba po naging classmate ko pa.“

(Some of them have also been members of the House. Among those who have been congressmen. There’s Congressman [Benhur] Abalos, Congressman [Abby] Binay, Congressman Cayetano, Congressman Pacquiao, Congressman [Erwin] Tulfo, Congressman [Camille] Villar, they were our allies. Some where even my classmate.)

“Mayroon din po tayong mga local government official. Nandiyan po ang mga naging gobernador. Palagay ko alam na ninyo kung sino ito. Unang-una naging governor ng napakalaking lalawigan ng Pampanga. ‘O, sinong may alam?’ Governor Lito Lapid…. At dito naman po sa Cavite, eh sinong naging governor ninyo na tumatakbo ngayon bilang senador? ….Governor Bong Revilla.” 

(There are also former local government officials [in the slate]. We have former governors. I’m sure you know who they are. First, the former governor of the large province of Pampanga. Who knows who this is? Governor Lito Lapid…. And here in Cavite, who is your former governor who is now running as Senator? Governor Bong Revilla.

Like President Marcos, Senator Marcos was once district representative and governor of Ilocos Norte before joining the Senate.

When the campaign kicked off in their home province of Ilocos Norte, Senator Marcos addressed in her speech talk of fighting in the powerful Marcos clan. She said was “hurt” by talk that she was picking fights with her brother, adding then that she was only worried that her “little brother is taken advantage of.”

It’s been an open secret in political circles that Senator Marcos, even if she’s the sister of the President, is not in his inner circle, or even in circles close to Malacañang. The senator, a staunch ally of the Duterters, has also been a very vocal critic of her brother’s policies and decisions.

But the most dramatic of Senator Marcos’ opposition to her brother has been, thus far, over the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his subsequent turnover to the International Criminal Court, where he now faces charges of crimes against humanity related to his drug war.

She went beyond words, too, and called for a Senate probe into Duterte’s arrest. Marcos’ top officials faced Senator Marcos’ foreign relations committee, defending, over a 5-hour hearing, the legality and propriety of Duterte’s arrest.

Senator Marcos has skipped at least two Alyansa rallies — first in their bailiwick Tacloban City and then in vote-rich Cavite. The first time she skipped an Alyansa event, it was in protest of Duterte’s arrest.

Granted, Senator Marcos wasn’t the only candidate who skipped Tacloban — her fellow Nacionalista Party bets reelectionist Senator Cayetano and House Deputy Speaker Villar weren’t there as well. Cayetano was barnstorming Bicol at the time and Villar was reported sick.

Villar skipped the Cavite sortie, too — reportedly because she needed to attend an event in Las Piñas with her mother, outgoing Senator Cynthia Villar. But unlike Senator Marcos, Representative Villar got a shoutout from President Marcos.

“Makikita ninyo na nanggaling sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng ating minamahal na Pilipinas ang ating mga kababayan – ang ating mga kandidato. Wala po dito ngayon pero si Camille Villar – siya po ang mga ninuno niya ay galing po sa Iloilo. Kaya’t mga Ilonggo naman,” said the President.

(You’ll see that Alyansa candidates are from all over the country. She’s not here but Camille Villar, her ancestors hail from Iloilo. So she’s Ilonggo.)

Will we see a change in the vaunted Alyansa in the aftermath of the Duterte’s arrest?

Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco, campaign manager of the slate, told reporters that the Nacionalista Party has not indicated it was leaving the coalition. Representative Villar’s parents, former Senate president Manny and Senator Cynthia, had earlier expressed opposition to Duterte’s arrest.

And as for the Marcos siblings? Well, it’s not the first time we’ve seen sibling drama in the context of Alyansa alone. Senator Marcos had earlier said she was withdrawing from the slate, only to join its sorties up until March 11.

Beyond the family drama, one wonders how this will affect the senator’s voters’ preference numbers. Before the national campaign period began, Senator Marcos wasn’t doing too well in preference surveys, only to surge in the January 2025 Pulse Asia survey held just before the campaign period began.

But she’s since dropped from the “winning circle” — or at least the circle of bets statistically likely to win — in the February 2025 iteration of the Pulse Asia survey.

It’s been said that her bad numbers are, at least partly, due to confusion over her identity. She’s a Marcos, so is she allied with the administration? Is she an ally of the Duterte clan before she is the kin of her brother? And how does the voter core base of either clan view the latest chapter in the Marcos clan drama? – Rappler.com