By Deighton Acuin

PHOTO: ABS-CBN News

As #MarcosDuwag topped the social media trending list every time presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos skipped presidential interviews and forums, his sister and incumbent senator Imee Marcos defended her brother by saying he is not a coward.

“I’m annoyed at the hashtag ‘Marcos duwag.’ My brother is not a coward. And in my opinion, he can easily answer [the debate question]. Yun pa,” Imee Marcos told DWIZ.

She added during the interview: “On my part, [I know] my brother is sensitive. He’s kind. So he gets hurt when he’s being criticized,”

Marcos then said that there are tendencies in every forum that Bongbong’s fellow hopefuls are ganging up and hurling past issues against him and his family.

“As we all know, when you take that lead, they might gang up on my brother. So he advised not to [attend],” she said.

On Saturday, March 12, Bongbong’s running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio decided to push through with her campaign sortie without attending any debates. 

The former senator’s camp earlier said during the UniTeam rally in Bulacan that they will release a decision this week. However, there are no press releases nor statements to date.

Marcos has drawn flak from netizens for his no-shows in interviews, forums, and debates. It all started with the Jessica Soho presidential interviews on January 21 then succeeded by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) presidential forum on February 4 and debates of CNN Philippines on February 27.

He, however, accepted the invitation to sit down with “Asia’s King of Talk” Boy Abunda, presidential interview organized by radio station DZRH, cooking show and interview with Korina Sanchez-Roxas and Apollo Quiboloy’s SMNI debates.

As a consequence, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said that the candidates who will be absent in the upcoming forums will be barred from posting e-rally contents in the poll body’s social media accounts until the 90-day campaign period ends. He earlier stated that candidates’ absence in the election-related events are a “red flag” for voters.


Edited by: Phylline Calubayan