MANILA - House Majority leader Martin Romualdez on Monday said he had always considered his relationship with the Marcoses "a plus" as the 2022 national elections nears.

The representative of Leyte's 1st district is the nephew of former First Lady Imelda Marcos. He earlier said he would consider President Rodrigo Duterte’s endorsement for the vice presidency in next year's polls.

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"I’m a Romualdez first and obviously I'm related (to the Marcoses) and I’m proud of the relationship," he told ANC's Headstart when asked how he would come into his own in the 2022 elections.

"The relationship has always been a good relationship in terms of not just familial, but personal relationships, even politically. The Marcoses are still a very big name in politics, and having them with you is always a plus."

Romualdez said he was "keeping his options open" for a 2022 run after the President's remark, and after the lawmaker's political party formed an alliance with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio's regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago.

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"I don’t want to preempt all of our friends who are thinking of filing. It might be presumptuous of me to even suggest my name at this point," he said.

The lawmaker, meantime, said his cousin former Senator Bongbong Marcos met with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last month not to seek endorsement.

Romualdez is the president of Lakas-CMD while Arroyo serves as the party's president emeritus.

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"He was not there to seek an endorsement, it was nothing like that. It was almost like a meeting of old friends," Romualdez said of his cousin who lost the vice presidential race in 2016.

"It was just probably an exchange of ideas vis-a-vis personalities in the Senate whom Senator Imee (Marcos) works with and the experience of former President at the Senate, and I guess how to be better legislators."

Duterte-Carpio, who is being asked by some sectors to run for President next year, had met with the Marcoses, as well as with former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro in Davao a few weeks ago.

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