Bongbong Marcos won't run in 2019 polls, claims he won VP post

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 11) — Former senator and vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos said he would not run for senator again in 2019 as he is determined to finish his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

"I'm not running for the Senate in 2019. Hindi ko titigilan ang protestang ito," he said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum Tuesday.

Marcos referred to his electoral protest against Vice President Robredo, after he lost to her by over 263,473 votes in the vice presidential polls in 2016.

He also reacted to claims by Robredo's legal counsel that he should run for senator instead in the 2019 elections.

"Bakit ko naman gagawin iyan?  I was already elected Vice President," he said during a press briefing Wednesday.Marcos served as senator from 2010 to 2016 prior to his vice presidential bid

The son of the late strongman President Ferdinand Marcos said he will turn down any offer to run for a senatorial post, even from the party of President Rodrigo Duterte.

"I will decline," he claimed. "I'm determined to finish this protest."

Robredo's lawyer, Atty. Romulo Macalintal, said Marcos' declaration was "presumptuous."

"If he won as vice president, why is it that it was Robredo who was proclaimed by Congress as winner?" Macalintal responded in a statement.

Biased electoral tribunal?

The former senator also said the Supreme Court (SC), standing as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has been making decisions in favor of his opponent, Robredo.

He accused Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa, the ponente of his election protest, of making biased resolutions.

""It has now become fairly obvious that his resolutions are biased against me and biased in favour my oppositor," Marcos said.

Caguioa was appointed to the high court by former President Benigno Aquino III. They were classmates from elementary to college at the Ateneo De Manila University.