President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has yet to publicly comment on whether or not his older sister, Senator Imee Marcos, remains part of the coalition he supports, Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas (APBP).
On Saturday, during a rally in Santa Rosa, Laguna, Marcos introduced every candidate under APBP except for his sister Imee, who opted not to join the campaign. The day before, Marcos also skipped mentioning his sister's name in his remarks.
Alyansa has a full slate of 12 senatorial candidates in its campaign.
Las Piñas City Representative Camille Villar was also absent but was introduced by Marcos as one of the candidates.
Both Imee and Villar have not participated in Alyansa's campaign rallies since the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his transfer to The Hague.
Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said that the President’s previous statement was clear, advising people to wait for the next rally to see if he would mention his sister.
“All we can say is that what he said was clear, and we will just have to wait for the next rallies to find out what he really meant by this,” she said in a briefing on Monday.
Castro also deferred campaign-related statements to Alyansa’s campaign manager, Navotas City Representative Toby Tiangco, who on Saturday directed questions about the situation to the candidates themselves.
“With regards to that question, I cannot answer that question for them. So like for Imee, it's best if she's the one to answer the question and not us," Tiangco said in a pre-rally press conference on 22 March.
Senator Imee Marcos, last week, launched a probe into Duterte's arrest.
Meanwhile, Castro said there is no information yet on whether the Marcos siblings have spoken to each other since the campaign rallies in Cavite and Laguna last week.
“Senator Imee also said that she has not yet spoken to the President. So, as of the moment, as we speak, we do not know yet if they have spoken,” she said.
At the start of the campaign for national posts, Imee had stated that she would not join the administration's ticket and chose to run as an independent.
The lady senator also said she would first focus on the Senate probe she is leading, explaining that she is not an expert in international law, the International Criminal Court, Interpol, or Republic Act 9851, all of which are connected to Duterte’s arrest.