By LEILANIE ADRIANO
www.nordis.net

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — Fearing that Cory’s magic will work on her son, presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino who has been soaring high in past surveys, Imelda Marcos and her children feel they need to be protected.

No other than a member of the Marcos clan, governor Michael Marcos-Keon revealed this on Dec. 17 evening after he finally broke his silence saying this was the main reason why he and his relatives ended up as “enemies” in the May 2010 elections which up to this time, “hurting” him because he could not simply “evade” the call of the Ilocos Norte electorate telling him he should run and defend his “pride and dignity as a person” and to protect the interest of everybody.

The sports czar of the province who trained champions told than a thousand employees of the Capitol during their Christmas program at the Ilocos Norte Convention Center on Thursday evening “it was not my style to surrender.” As a sportsman who believes in “honor, fairness and sportsmanship” he said he just made the “toughest decision” in his entire life and decided not to withdraw—win or lose. “But I say this with a heavy heart because I don’t want to hurt relatives,” he added.

Keon denied making a statement that “Ilocos is for Marcos but not Villar” and that the story published in a national daily was “taken out of context.”

Imee’s candidacy against first cousin Michael, son of the late former governor Elizabeth Marcos-Keon was a complete surprise to the Ilocanos. It has been bruited about she decided to run at the last minute after brother Bongbong was taken in as guest candidate by the Nacionalista Party under Sen. Manuel Villar.

He reiterated that when the Marcos family helped him elected as governor of Ilocos Norte in 2007, he was already with the administration (Lakas party) while his cousins have always been with the opposition. “We have an understanding within the family and never did we talk about implementing this,” Keon said.

He also added that it was not him who brought all the mayors of Ilocos Norte to Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition because all the 23 Ilocos mayors were already with the administration when they run in previous elections and they remained up to this day except for mayor Bonifacio Clemente of Paoay, Ilocos Norte who is now with Nacionalista Party.

While it is true that blood is thicker than water, Mrs. Marcoses also told newsmen in an earlier interview that her children have “political integrity” to defend on.

For her part, Mrs. Marcos has reiterated that her running for a House seat in the province’s second district was for “justice—for the widow, orphans and the dead.” The Marcos family claims they have long been deprived of justice because up to this date, they had been longing that finally, the body of the late president Ferdinand Marcos in a refrigerated crypt at the Marcos mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte be put to rest and that he shall be given an honorable burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as his rightful right as a former president of the Philippines and the most bemedalled hero in history. # nordis.net