‘Broken’ peace deal with Marcoses drives Fariñas to run for Ilocos Norte governor

A "broken" peace deal between the Marcos and Fariñas political clans of Ilocos Norte is one factor that drove former House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas to run against the grandson of former First Lady Imelda Marcos for the highest seat in the province.

Fariñas made the revelation to reporters after he filed on Thursday his certificate of candidacy for Ilocos Norte governor, substituting Jesus Arimbuyutan.

Arimbuyutan was supposed to go head to head against the former first lady had she not withdrawn her candidacy and was replaced by her grandson, Matthew Marcos Manotoc.

According to Fariñas, he and former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos agreed to have a "peace deal" that his daughter Ria and Mrs. Marcos would run unopposed in the upcoming elections.

Ria is seeking to replace her father as representative of the First District of Ilocos Norte, running against Ryan Remigio who is allied with the Marcoses.

The older Fariñas and Remigio also ran against each other for Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative in the 2016 elections.

Fariñas said the Marcos clan was supposed to withdraw their bet, but in Laoag City, Michael Marcos Keon decided to run for mayor against two-term mayor Chevylle Fariñas, the wife of Fariñas' late nephew, Vice Mayor Michael Fariñas.

"They were going to withdraw the opponent of Ria, but Keon’s running against Chevylle violates our peace agreement," the older Fariñas said.

Fariñas said Keon was supposed to run only for Sangguniang Panlungsod member, but only 10 minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline on Thursday, the latter got a certificate of Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance from the Nacionalista Party and substituted against Chevylle for mayor.

Fariñas then went to the Commission on Elections in Ilocos Norte to file his substitution for governor.

He said Bongbong also went there to talk to him about the development, saying that he "did not know about Keon's filing."

"I told him I’ll just proceed with my own filing since there was a minute left before the deadline but we will continue talking about peace," he said.

After Fariñas filed his certificate of candidacy, he said Bongbong told him that he would convince Keon to withdraw his candidacy.

"So, I told him if Keon withdraws his, I’ll withdraw mine, too," Fariñas said.

Fariñas has repeatedly said before that he would retire from politics after he serves his last term as representative.

"By March next year, it will be 40 years of public life, or much more than half of my life. Time to be carefree and enjoy my remaining vigor," he told reporters.

Mrs. Marcos, whom Fariñas' opponent had replaced, was recently found guilty of graft by the Sandiganbayan over her alleged financial interests in Swiss-based foundations during her time as Minister of Human Settlements and interim member of Congress.

The Sandiganbayan on Friday allowed Mrs. Marcos to post bail for her temporary freedom as she pursues legal remedies to her graft conviction. —KG, GMA News