MANILA - Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is determined to join the 2022 presidential race, despite reports that his ally, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will also seek Philippines' top post.

Addressing supporters in vote-rich Batangas, the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos said he will not back down from the race.

“Ang daming kumakalat na balita na ako raw ay aatras. May kilala ba kayo na Marcos na umatras? Wala 'yan sa ugali namin," said Marcos.

(So many reports claimed I am backing out. But do you know any Marcos who backed out of any race? That's not who we are.)

In 1998, Imelda Marcos withdrew from the presidential race a month before the elections, apparently due to her dismal ranking in surveys.

Bongbong's announcement that he was not backing out comes as Duterte-Carpio resigned from the regional party she founded and moved to Lakas-CMD, just days away from a deadline for national parties to switch their candidates in the 2022 elections.

In 1998, Imelda Marcos withdrew from the presidential race a month before the elections.

Earlier Friday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) also issued summons to Marcos Jr., so he could answer the petition seeking to cancel his certificate of candidacy (COC).

After Marcos answers, a "pre-conference" will be set, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said. The parties will then be given 3 days to file their respective final arguments in a memoranda.

The Comelec case against Marcos stemmed from the petition filed by Task Force Detainees of PH, KAPATID, Medical Action Group, FIND, PH Alliance of Human Rights Advocates and Balay.

It questioned Marcos' eligibility to run for the country's top job because he has been convicted of tax evasion.

The Marcos camp has labelled the petition as "nuisance" masterminded by his critics.

Since returning to the Philippines in 1991 from a 5-year exile in Hawaii after his father's overthrow in a "People Power" uprising, Marcos and his family has been trying to rebuild its image, which was tainted by human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship.

The government has recovered P174 billion in Marcos ill-gotten wealth, according to the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

The family denies any wrongdoing. Matriarch Imelda has been found guilty of several counts of graft in lower courts, but has won most of her appeals in higher courts. None of the members of the former first family has been imprisoned.

CARMMA, a group campaigning against the resurgence of the Marcos family, said Bongbong was "not an innocent bystander during the Marcos dictatorship, directly benefiting while holding positions in crony corporations."

His refusal to apologize to martial law victims and denial of involvement in the military rule "completes Bongbong's self-centered image and blind focus on restoring the stature of the Marcos family to their former glory."

Bongbong has repeatedly asked the public to "move on and move forward," saying the past cannot be changed and that "blaming others and finding scapegoats are not solutions" to the many problems the country is facing.

- With reports from Jacque Manabat and Jauhn Etienne Villaruel, ABS-CBN News, Reuters