Buhay party-list representative Lito Atienza and former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/Handout, Ferdinand Marcos Jr's Office
MANILA - Vice presidential candidate Lito Atienza said Friday he would not be able to work alongside presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should they win their respective races.
Atienza said he would rather give way to the next vice presidential candidate with the most votes than serve alongside Marcos, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
"Iba po ang ugali ni Bongbong eh. Sabi nga ng kanyang sariling ama, nung siya'y lumalaki pa lamang bilang isang batang lalaki ay tamad," the lawmaker and former Manila mayor told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.
(His personality is different, even his father said he was lazy while growing up.)
"There are great big chances I would not serve with him, even President (Rodrigo) Duterte calls him pothead. Biro mo babantayan ko pa ang aking president. Siguro yung sumusunod sa'kin yun ang ating paglingkurin. Wala po akong gagawing iba kundi bantayan ang presidente. Lugi na naman ang bayan."
(I would have to monitor him. Let's just let the next candidate serve. I won't be doing anything else but monitor the president, it will be to the disadvantage of the public.)
Marcos earlier said he tested negative for drug use after President Duterte claimed a presidential candidate running in 2022 uses cocaine.
Duterte has also called Marcos a "spoiled" and "weak leader."
Atienza also asked Marcos' spokesperson, lawyer Vic Rodriguez to participate in a debate against him and prove that Martial Law had good effects on the country.
"If you prove me wrong, I will retire from politics altogether and apologize to the nation. But if I prove you wrong and I'm able to prove Marcos indeed abused the Filipino people, kaya siya tinatawag na the biggest crook in the world... Nakakahiya ang biggest thief in the world ay Pilipino," he said.
(That's why he's called the the biggest crook in the world...It's shameful that the biggest thief in the world is a Filipino.)
"Hindi tayo sa social media magdedebate. Hinahamon kita ng debate face-to-face sa television o kaya naman face-to-face sa publiko, Plaza Miranda."
(We won't debate on social media, I challenge you to a face-to-face debate on television or in public, in Plaza Miranda.)
In 2018, Marcos' mother Imelda was convicted of 7 counts of graft for using her Cabinet position to maintain Swiss bank accounts during her husband's regime.
The Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth “is estimated between US$5 billion to US$10 billion, the bulk of it being deposited and hidden abroad,” according to the Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
The government has recovered a total of P170 billion in the past 30 years.