Not true. This was how Chinatown Barangay Organization (CBO) Head Jeff Lau debunked the rumors about Senator Imee Marcos eyeing a run for Manila mayor in the 2025 midterm elections.
On Thursday, Feb. 15, Marcos joined Lau, President Lucio Ang, and Henry Ang of the Philippine Fujian General Youth's Business Association Inc., and Chinatown barangay chairmen in distributing tikoy to over 2,000 Chinatown residents as as part of the Chinese New Year celebration in Plaza Lorenzo Ruiz, Binondo.
Lau said in a short interview that the rumor of Marcos running as the city's mayor is not true.
He said they personally asked Marcos about the circulating news and she told them that she would not run for mayor of Manila.
“In-invite [kaming] mga Chinatown chairmen sa bahay nila [Imee Marcos] sa San Juan nung October last year at nag-ask kami if tatakbo siya for Mayor ng Maynila kasi may pumutok na balita. Sabi niya hindi siya tatakbo sa Maynila (We were invited to Imee Marcos' house in San Juan in October last year, and we asked her if she would run for Mayor of Manila because there was news circulating about it. She said she would not run in Manila),” he said.
He added that Marcos also told them that she has one more term in the Senate and that she plans to finish it.
In February 2023, Marcos already denied the rumor during a radio interview, saying she would run for re-election in 2025 as senator.
“Hindi. Tatakbo ako ng re-election 2025, kase may term pa ako as senator. Ayokong maging mayor of Manila. Ang hirap-hirap ng trabahong ‘yan, napaka-crowded, sobrang daming tao sa Maynila. Ewan ko ba't naging rumor ‘yan, kung sabagay uso kase sa Maynila na nag ru-rumor kung sino man ang pumunta doon (I will seek re-election in 2025 because I still have one more term as senator. I don't want to become the mayor of Manila. That job is very hard, Manila is very crowded. There are too many people in Manila. I don't know how that rumor started or maybe because it's a trend in Manila to make rumors whenever a politician visits the capital city),” she said.
Marcos said the Romualdez family has a house in Pandacan, Manila and that she often gets invited to the city since a lot of the residents are Waray and Bisaya.