Marcos using ill-gotten wealth to return to power — Leni

Vice President Leni Robredo accused yesterday former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of using ill-gotten wealth to return to power.

“For me, it’s saddening that they have yet to pay what they owe the country, and yet they are using their debt to return to power,” Robredo said in a forum at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños.

Robredo’s statement came after Marcos, son and namesake of the late dictator, formally asked the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to dismiss her counter-protest over her failure to pay the initial P8 million required cash deposit for the case.

Marcos has settled the first installment of fees required from his end, which amounted to P36 million.

Robredo said she would face the challenges even as she admitted that she does not have the same resources as Marcos.

“Of course, I don’t have the resources to stop him. But to me, even if we are not equal in terms of our background, I’ll do everthing to make sure he will not return to power,” she said.

Robredo noted that “fighting an impending Marcos return” was among the factors that convinced her to accept the offer to run for vice president under the Liberal Party in the May 2016 elections.

Marcos father’s decades-old reign is marked with abuses, including human rights violations.

She also accused Marcos of using his resources to help in “concerted” attacks against her, especially online.

Marcos and Robredo were required by the PET to raise a total of P81.46 million, which will be used for the retrieval of ballot boxes and election documents from contested precincts.