Imee Marcos visiting provinces ‘to get feel’ on possible Senate run in 2019

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos on Tuesday said she has been visiting provinces to find out if a 2019 Senate run is necessary even as she claimed that her family has yet to decide with finality on it.

Marcos, governor for eight years, had earlier hinted at but never officially announced her senatorial ambitions as her brother, former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., is focused on his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

"Umiikot ako [nang] kaunti to get the feel kung kakailanganin," she said, identifying Marawi City and the Bicol region as some of the places she has visited.

"It's fun going around the Philippines. It's [a] very warm welcome, magandang mga pangitain. At kahit mga disaster zones nga katulad ng Albay, katulad ng Marawi, ay talagang makikita mong nakangisi pa rin 'yung mga Pilipino, at talagang fighting, ang galing," she said.

She said the family has discussed that a Marcos may need to run for a national office, particularly a Senate seat, in the midterm polls as Bongbong's election protest plods along.

The manual vote recount that is part of his election protest started on Monday and, according to him, revealed wet ballots and missing audit logs in some polling precincts in the municipality of Bato, Camarines Sur.

Bongbong has said not even the endorsement of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has given concessions to the Marcos family, will convince him to run for the Senate in 2019.

Asked if another Marcos will run in the 2019 elections, Imee said she did not know, but joked: "[Ang] nanay ko, pero sabi niya 100 years old na daw siya."

Former First Lady Imelda Marcos is the current representative of the second district of Ilocos Norte at the House of Representatives. —KBK, GMA News