Marcos: I won't be comfortable until I take my oath

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Despite partial tallies already showing Sen. Bongbong Marcos leading the vice-presidential race, he said he wouldn't feel comfortable until he had taken his oath.

"It's always good to see that you're leading the count but it's early days yet. We should err on the side of conservatism and wait for more votes to come in," Marcos told CNN Philippines on Monday (May 9).

About 49.45% of precincts were already counted during the time of the interview, but he said, "I will feel comfortable when I take my oath and not before then."

Related: Duterte, Marcos lead in PPCRV partial unofficial results

As of 9:10 p.m. Monday, Marcos has the lead with 10,535,821 votes. Administration bet Leni Robredo is a close second with 9,627,377 votes.

Marcos said he wasn't surprised with Robredo's strong showing, saying the surveys had forecast her steady rise in the vice-presidential contest.

During the last Pulse Asia survey before the national elections, Robredo took 30% of votes, beating Marcos at 28%. For the latest Social Weather Station survey, Marcos led at 29% while Robredo followed at 28%.

The two, however, were statistically tied, given a margin of error.

Marcos continues to enjoy both strong support as well as stinging criticism for his father's martial law rule in the 1970s to the 1980s.

During the vice-presidential debates, he was consistently questioned on whether he recognized the Marcos government's human rights abuses and whether he was willing to return the family's allegedly ill-gotten wealth.

Marcos said he didn't know what impact these issues could yet have on his votes.

"We will wait until we have the disaggregated numbers to see what the effects are," he explained.

The former Ilocos Norte governor likewise shrugged off any rumors of a presidential run in the future.

When asked if he was already looking ahead to 2022, he laughed and said, "God, no. I'm not even thinking about tomorrow. I'm just watching the television and trying to make sense of what the numbers are."

He said, people might speculate that his vice-presidential candidacy was simply a prelude to higher political ambitions, "but these are not speculations I'm making." He emphasized that he was fully focused on this election and not beyond it.