STATEMENT OF SEN. FERDINAND "BONGBONG" MARCOS, JR

I have decided to run for Vice President in the May 2016 elections.

All these talks of teaming up with certain leading presidential candidates have been mere speculations.

I flew to Davao City on Wednesday and consulted with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. He was gracious enough to promise me his support should I decide to run for Vice President. I, too, will support Mayor Duterte if and when he runs for President.

Regarding Vice President Jejomar Binay, I was invited to be his Vice-Presidential candidate. There were initial talks between our supporters, but any team up with the Vice President must be rooted on a shared vision for our country, a common platform of government as well as political perspectives.

Unfortunately, it would be difficult for me to tame our political differences.

For one thing, I believe that elected officials have an obligation to our people to help change the course of our nation's history by banishing the politics of personality which, to me, is one of the primary causes why our country today has become a soft state where the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, graft and corruption is endemic, the drug menace pervades, injustice is the norm and government incompetence is accepted.

Consequently, I have decided to put my political fortune in the hands of the Filipino people. I humbly ask them to judge whether or not I am worthy of their trust to be Vice President on the strength of my performance as a public servant in the last 26 years: first as former Vice Governor and Governor of Ilocos Norte, then as Representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte and, finally, as Senator of the country.

Thank you and may God bless us all.