Presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. appeared to have no idea about senatorial aspirant Robin Padilla's inclusion in the official ticket of the BBM-Sara UniTeam.
In an ambush interview after his proclamation rally in bailiwick Ilocos Norte on early Thursday morning, Feb. 17 Marcos Jr. said former film actor Padilla "is not in the 12", which refers to the 12-man senatorial line-up of the UniTeam.
"But he's (Padilla) part of the group," he quickly added.
Minutes earlier, Marcos Jr.'s running mate in the May 2022 polls, vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte-Carpio, announced during the event that their senatorial line-up already had its 12th candidate and is now "complete".
Duterte-Carpio mentioned Padilla's name last in her roll call of the ticket's Senate slate.
Padilla, in an interview with reporters, also did not confirm if he was already made part of the line-up. He said there is still "no formal discussion".
Padilla also claimed that has a different set-up with Duterte-Carpio as he is "under" the Davao City mayor.
Marcos and Duterte-Carpio are the frontrunning presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively, based on pre-election surveys.