MANILA – Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said his camp is slowing down on campaign sorties to ensure his and running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s big lead in pre-election surveys are converted to actual votes come May 9.

The Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) met with reporters in Cagayan de Oro in his first face-to-face press conference since the national campaign period began on February 8.

“Sunod-sunod pa rin ang aming mga sorties, although nag-slow down na kami nang kaunti because we’re starting to attend to other outstanding issues, specifically vote conversion and vote protection," Marcos said.

“So far, our coordination with local leaders, our parallel groups, seem to be okay. But of course, we still have to be very very careful. We still have to be very watchful and make sure that everything goes according to the proper procedure, especially during election day and, of course, more importantly, during the counting."

Bongbong Marcos says his administration will adjust government’s fiscal policy in response to changes in doing business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as he maintains need to grant tax amnesty to businesses that have suffered these past 2 years. #Halalan2022 pic.twitter.com/w8PW7r3LTo

— Ina Reformina (@InaReformina) April 26, 2022

He filed an electoral protest against Vice-President Leni Robredo over the 2016 vice-presidential race, alleging massive vote-buying, pre-shading of ballots, pre-loaded secure digital cards, misreading of ballots, malfunctioning vote-counting machines, a script change in the transparency server that allegedly altered the results.

The former senator made the assertion despite the Supreme Court junking his election protest in February last year.

A source told ABS-CBN News the reasons behind the junking include the failure of Marcos' camp to allege specific acts showing electoral fraud, and how Robredo actually gained additional votes in the three pilot provinces Marcos Jr. chose for poll recounts.

• Robredo: 'Marcos needs to concede and accept his defeat in grace'

‘GOD HAD OTHER PLANS’

But Marcos hints his loss in 2016 may have been God's act.

“You know, to be philosophical about it, I suppose God had other plans for me and [winning] vice-president was not part of it,” he said.

Marcos said his team knows “much better now what the system is,” including its vulnerabilities.

“These are the things that I worry about and these are the things na tinututukan namin ‘to," he said.

Marcos’ chief of staff and spokesman Vic Rodriguez earlier said their party volunteers are training for deployment as poll watchers.

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