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Toni: Today, I'm with a man who needs no introduction. We have with us the one and only Mr. Bongbong Marcos.
Bongbong: Hello, hello. So happy to be here.
Toni: Thank you very much.
Bongbong: No. I thank you for taking the trouble. Thank you.
Toni: Thank you very much for allowing us into your beautiful home. You have a favorite part here in your house?
Bongbong: Well, yun, having grown up as a student, I got used to living in one room, so I have my desk in my bedroom so that I basically spend most of my time when I'm in the house. I was in there for seventy-two days.
Toni: In your room?
Bongbong: In the room.
Toni: What were you doing inside the room?
Bongbong: Driving myself crazy basically. Well, when you're ill, you don't really mind the passage of time so that...
Toni: This, you're talking about the time when you got COVID.
Bongbong: Yeah, when I got COVID, so if you're not feeling bad, you don't really worry about it. I knew I was better because, say, I was getting very bored and just think, 'When can I get out of here? When can I get out of here?'
Toni: Do you have a morning routine po, Sir Bong, like what time do you usually wake up?
Bongbong: I'm usually up by seven, but after cleaning my teeth, I go straight to the computer and look messages, and answer my mail, and see what's happening, what I missed from the night before.
Toni: A, so, hindi kayo nagbeabreakfast, Sir Bong?
Bongbong: I fast.
Toni: Is that the intermittent fasting?
Bongbong: The intermittent fasting. Seems to work for me. Sometimes, I forget that I fasted and haven't eaten, and I'll go and exercise.
Toni: What's your exercise po?
Bongbong: A, gym, 'cause my schedule's so crazy, I can't do it like before so that's what I do now, just to, how to stay fit, especially after COVID. It's my father's influence. My father was, before the term was invented, he was a health freak, and he would exercise at least, at least an hour a day. Sometimes, twice a day.
Toni: So, you would see him exercise when you were a kid?
Bongbong: He would make me, he would bring us to the gym and say, 'Come,' when we were little.
Toni: Since you talked about your father, when you were born, he was already in politics.
Bongbong: Yes. He became congressman in '47, and then senator in '57.
Toni: That's the time you were born.
Bongbong: That's the year I was born, yeah. Actually, I think he was always in politics, at least in his mind. When I became governor of Ilocos Norte, I got to talk, since I was spending all my time there, I got to talk to some of his friends, the people who were around him, when he was still living in Ilocos, and they said, 'Sixteen years old pa lang 'yan, may gabinete na 'yan e.'
Toni: Ah, really?
Bongbong: Oo. Talagang my father is one of those, I suppose, the most single-minded person I've ever known. If it had nothing to do with his work, he just wouldn't spend time on it.
Toni: Sa'n po kayo pinanganak?
Bongbong: San Juan, oo. Pinanganak ako do'n, so I, we lived in our house which is still there until 1965, when he won the Presidency, and we moved na to the Palace.
Toni: He won his Presidency in 1965, you were seven years old.
Bongbong: Yeah, because I remember, my first birthday in the palace was my eighth birthday.
Toni: What was that like?
Bongbong: It was amazing because my dad brought me pa to school. He woke me up, he came into my room, I was changing, going ready to go to school, and he said, 'Come. It's your birthday. I'll bring you,' so he brought me, and I cannot forget, and my classmates cannot forget, those two, yung ice cream, nagbebenta ng sorbetes, Magnolia, hindi, Selecta pa no'n, hindi ba?
Toni: Yes.
Bongbong: So, dalawa sila, so, my dad made it pakyaw. He said, 'O,' we paid them some money, and he said, 'O, lahat ng hihingi ng ice cream, libre a, at buong araw kasi birthday ng anak ko,' so I was the most popular guy.
Toni: Anong school po kayo pumapasok no'n?
Bongbong: La Salle Green Hills, in Ortigas, yeah.
Toni: So, at eight years old, you already lived in the Palace. What was that like, growing up in Malacañang, in the Palace?
Bongbong: Well, in the early days, masaya kasi ang daming mapupuntahan.
Toni: Daming rooms, ang laki.
Bongbong: Ang daming pupuntahan, ang dami mong, you go down to the kitchen, you mess around with the cooks, and you go to the sekyu, you mess around with them, play with them, you go to the park, so there's many places to go.
Toni: Anong favorite place niyo no'n sa Malacañang?
Bongbong: I used to end up hanging out with the sekyu all the time, I guess, with the guys, you know. The Palace was so interesting but as the time went on, the private part of the palace became smaller and smaller, and the office part of the palace became bigger and bigger. There was that one time that I came out in my pajamas, and my father was approaching with a state visitor, so I said, 'Okay, that's not happening again.' You do not leave your room until you're completely...
Toni: Fully dressed.
Bongbong: You're ready to see people.
Toni: How was your relationship with your father nung time na 'yon?
Bongbong: My dad?
Toni: Was he a disciplinarian? Was he strict with you?
Bongbong: Yeah, he was. His only thing was study hard, yun lang talaga. Basta't work hard, study hard. That was his main thing. As long as you're studying hard, you're okay with him.
Toni: You got a lot of his traits kasi nga, 'di ba, you grew up watching him, sa stage, giving speeches, so marami sa mannerisms niya, even yung size niya, nakuha niyo, your waist.
Bongbong: Yeah, ang katawan namin are remarkably similar, from shoe size, to waist, everything. That's why I was one of the lucky ones that when binibigyan siya ng regalo, I would raid his closet. My mannerisms, especially, speaking, is very much my dad's. Siyempre, from the time I was very small, we were already there in the back, watching him make speeches, and he would teach a little bit about modulation and everything but, voice modulation and things like that, but mostly, what he would insist upon if when we started having to speak was that learn it, don't read. The one, that thing that also, that everybody says is my voice, is that we have a same, same voice.
Toni: 'Di ba po, when your dad was President, sinasama niya kayo sa lahat ng kanyang mga visits in different parts of the world, and you have met some of the most powerful and influential people. You have even met the Royal Family.
Bongbong: Yes. Yes, yes. Some of the funniest parts would be my mom would call and says, 'I'm going to meet the Generalissimo Franco in Spain. Want to come?' Of course. Get out of school, number one, 'di ba, and we'd go. 'I'm going to see the Pope. Sama ka?' Sama kami. I think it was a conscious effort of my parents to expose us because even 'pag the travel, like the, they would go to the provinces, or they would go to, especially, mga bagyo, yung mga gano'n, sinasama lagi kami. We're always there, so I think it was my parents, that they really wanted us to see everything.
Toni: Sino po yung nameet niyo that made a huge impact in your life, na hindi niyo makakalimutan?
Bongbong: Madami masyado. I've met most of the Popes. I've met most of the Secretary Generals of the UN. In fact, I've met them all since U Thant. Si Indira Gandhi was one who really impress me, and Maggie Thatcher.
Toni: What do you think is the greatest lesson that you have learned from your father?
Bongbong: Oh my. I learned so much from him, it's hard to... When it comes to work, marami siyang, you know, like things, like when you walk into a room, the guy, if you're walking into a negotiation, whoever knows more, wins, so I've always held that. Always work hard, hard work is always rewarded. Things like that. He was not the type to sit you down and said, 'Alam mo, anak, ang ganito, ganyan,' hindi. Basta siya, 'Eto yung gagawin natin.' He would be with his cabinet members, some, and they would be talking about something pretty important, and he would suddenly turn to me, 'What do you think?'
Toni: Ilang taon kayo no'n?
Bongbong: I was sixteen, seventeen, he was already turning to me and say, 'What do you think?' But you know, when he asks you a question, it's not because he wants to know the answer. He wants to know if you know the answer. He's testing you, kasi nung inaral na niya 'yan, alam na niya 'yan, a, so come prepared.
Toni: From your mother naman po?
Bongbong: From my mother, well, of course, it's the sort of things, my love of music, of the arts, because she's, our house always had music playing. She was the one who used to take us to the theater, take us to museums. It really was her point of joy, it really was the art, were the arts. It wasn't normally, we didn't have a normal, there wasn't such a thing as a normal day. Everyday was different. What formed the way I do things is how my father or my mother would react. It's having watched both of them handling the problems that they were confronted with on a daily basis. I think that's what really made my own personality when it came to such things. I would say that the many incidents that I watched them handle, really taught me how to approach problems, how to take, you know, the challenges that inevitably come up.
Toni: Speaking of yung handling life situations and problems, when people were marching towards EDSA, how did your father handle that situation?
Bongbong: My father called me and he said, 'We have intelligence that this is about these people are moving, and this is that, and this is what we're going to do. I'm assigning you to work with the security to handle the defense of the Palace,' so from that day on, that's all I was doing. From that point, that Wednesday, afternoon, nakauniporme na 'ko e, because I just come out of the military also at that time, kaya ako nilagay e, sabi niya, 'Ikaw ang in charge sa defense ng Palasyo.'
Toni: How was your father nung time po na 'yon?
Bongbong: So, he reverted back to his commander mode, wartime commander mode, again, very calm, very measured, and...
Toni: So, nung nangyayari po yung rally sa EDSA, ano yung sinabi niya sa inyo?
Bongbong: I remember, say, you know, the, 'Yung kalaban,' sabi ko, 'Ginigiyera na tayo,' and he answered me, he said, 'I have spent my whole life defending Filipinos. I cannot hurt them now.' That was it. Baba. 'Put your guns down,' saying, 'We're not shooting anyone.'
Toni: Were you scared nung time na 'yon?
Bongbong: No, I wasn't. I can't say as I was because militarily, we had an advantage. It's just he chose not to fight, and then they took us to Clark. When we got to Clark, dinisarmahan kami, lumipad na kami sa Guam, which is what happened.
Toni: How was your father when you were in Guam?
Bongbong: He was ill. He wasn't well. He wasn't sleeping, but again, he was still his own self, he was in that mode, he was in commander mode.
Toni: Was there ever a time that he showed his vulnerability to you?
Bongbong: He's a professional so, 'Basta't kung anong kailangang gawin, gagawin natin.' He didn't shook away from any kind of challenge. Basta't kung ano, hinaharap niya talaga, that, basta yung the opposite of vulnerable.
Toni: Solution-based.
Bongbong: Absolutely. Mission-oriented ang tawag sa military, mission-oriented.
Toni: How was your last moments with your father before he passed away?
Bongbong: They called us. I was in San Francisco, and the doctor started calling, and actually, it's my sister who said, 'You better come back,' so I rushed to the first plane back to Hawaii, and that's it, and he had a kind of a seizure, his heart failed, and we were watching, just watching him, trying to revive him, but he didn't make it, and I remember, I was hugging Irene, and we're looking, 'cause we were asked to leave the room, while the doctors attended to him, so we were watching him through the window.
Toni: What was his last words with you na tumatak sa inyo talaga before he passed away?
Bongbong: I remember, just before he died, he opened his eyes and he just looked at me, and, you're gonna make me cry, he just looked at me, and he close his eyes again, and all the alarms start to went off, all the machines started beeping, and then all the nurses came in, all the doctors came in, we were hustled out of the room, and that was it, so there were no last words but...
Toni: There was that last look.
Bongbong: There was that last look that I will never forget, and, God, look what you're doing. People will think I'm a crybaby.
Toni: It meant the world, that last look.
Bongbong: It's a very, very sad memory, and sad and happy at the same time because at least, meron siyang last na connection with me, with us. I could see he really looked, and he knew who I was, and he knew that perhaps he was going, so...
Toni: Parang that look was a farewell.
Bongbong: Parang gano'n.
Toni: A lot of people were saying that your father, Ferdinand Marcos, was the best President the Philippines has ever had, and to some people, he was the worst President the Philippines has ever had, but if I were to ask you, what's the best and worst thing about him?
Bongbong: The best thing about him, as a leader, as a President, he was an actual leader. I think the problem now we have is that we lack leadership. You cannot be President following surveys, which is a tendency that we have, not only here, but in other countries as well. Meron siyang vision talaga, 'I want the Philippines to be this place in ten years. I will make the Philippines this good by that year.' Meron siyang vision, and, 'Ano yung galing ng Pinoy, yun, dun tayo, dun tayo, dun yun, pagandahin natin,' tulad niyan. He had a very clear understanding of what needed to be done, and how to do it, and that, I think, was his best quality as a leader, which was born of his experience, born of his smarts, born of his love for the Filipinos and Philippines. The worst, I don't know how you would describe, because he had all the qualities of a good leader, that a good leader will have, should have, rather. He took any job that he had very, very, very seriously, very serious, very serious person, and that sense of focus, maybe that's the worst, because everything was put aside. If it does not help the Presidency, it does not help the country, if it is not in the national interest, 'You keep it to yourself, because I don't have time for that. That's all I have to do,' not to say that he was a negligent father, but, oh, he was always very doting with us, but, you know, that was his life, that was everything that he was about. Worst in the sense kasi kami, mga anak nga, we wish we could spend more time with him, and we should, so, 'Ano ba,' you know, we're, you know, 'We don't see him anymore.' Actually, my mom, the same thing, they're always out doing something, even when we'd come home, from when we were going to school abroad already, pag-uwi namin, sabi, 'Umuwi pa tayo, we don't naman see our parents,' but, you know, that was the kulang part in our ano because they were just so busy, there was just so much to do, and so many things to...
Toni: How do you handle ho, Sir Bong, yung mga criticisms, yung mga bashers, yung mga hate, the anti-Marcoses?
Bongbong: Well, we're in political life. Can you find me a person in political life who has no critic, who has no hater, who has no bashers, who has no critic, and like you can't find one. Nobody won an election with one hundred percent of the vote, no one, ever, anywhere, unless they cheated, so that's something that we learn to live with very, because I remember very well, when he was Senate President, I remember being in Baguio for some reason, and everyday, the newspaper would be, 'Oust Marcos, oust Marcos,' basta binabanatan siya nang husto. I'm talking young, I was quite young.
Toni: Ilang taon po kayo no'n?
Bongbong: I must have been six, five, six years old.
Toni: So, six pa lang...
Bongbong: Because nagbabasa na 'ko e. You could read already, so...
Toni: And you would get affected nung time na 'yon siyempre?
Bongbong: Hindi ko maintindihan ba't galit sila sa daddy ko. Ba't galit na galit sila? E, siyempre, babasahin ko yung dyaryo, 'di ko naman naintindihan kung ano yung pinag-uusapan nila so I remember asking and saying, 'Ba't ganun? Ba't sila galit kay Daddy? Mabait naman si Daddy e.'
'A, hindi, ganyan sila...'
Toni: And to this day, Sir Bong...
Bongbong: Kaya nga...
Toni: The mere surname, merong mga talagang 'pag narinig Marcos...
Bongbong: A, oo.
Toni: But your father po, how did he handle that, yung mga, 'Oust Marcos,' yung mga...
Bongbong: Wala 'yon. Trabaho lang tatay ko, trabaho lang. That's nothing. Sabi niya, 'I've been called worse names. I've been called every name in the book. Hahaha,' tawa siya nang tawa. If you're making your enemies angry, you're doing a good job, and you go back to Churchill, 'If you haven't made any enemies, you haven't done anything.' Ganyan talaga e. E, 'yan buhay ng pulitika e, wala ka talaga, hindi mo maiiwasan yun e, kahit yung pinakapopular. Tignan mo, our President now, if you look at the surveys, antaas-taas ng popularity, ng approval rating at lahat, meron pa ring galit sa kanya, meron pang minumura siya, meron pang kung anu-anong sinasabi. Hindi mawawala 'yan e, and we learn that lesson very, I did anyway, I learned that lesson very early on.
Toni: At the age of six.
Bongbong: Mga gano'n. I remembered, I remember, yeah. We will look in the history books, when was the time, when he was Senate President, ang gusto talaga siyang tanggalin. They just kept attacking him, and attacking him. I remember, I remembered, still in my head e, I can still see the newspaper, 'Oust Marcos. Out, Marcos, out,' yung ganun, puro ganun na yung headline.
Toni: At the age of six, ano? Parang ang agang-aga na awakening 'yon and realization about life, 'di ba?
Bongbong: E, it had to happen because buhay talaga namin yun e. It's been that way since, it's been that way since before we were born, 'di ba?
Toni: Speaking of history, Sir Bong, if you were to change one thing about the Philippine history, what would you change?
Bongbong: The colonizations. Sana hindi na tayo nacolonize. I would do away with the Spanish colonization, the three hundred years, and all the other, the Americans essentially colonized us too, and I think that Filipinos deserve better than to be second class citizens.
Toni: Your mom has been very vocal about you following the footsteps of your father, hindi ho ba, so where do you see yourself next year?
Bongbong: As long as I'm functioning, I consider myself to be in public service. I hue close to my father's idea that yun, it seems we were put on this Earth to serve, and so that's what I'll do. If that is my purpose in life, if that's what God wants for me to do, then that's what I will continue to do, hangga't I'm functioning. It's never finish kasi e, it's never finished. It's always, there's always one other thing that you can do, there's always a little bit more that you can do.
Toni: So, if it's not yet finish what it is, what is it po that you want to continue doing?
Bongbong: Helping. Just make the Philippines better. Well, right now, to be specific, is to, we're in the middle of this crisis. We have to improve our vaccination rollout para talagang, because it seems to be the only solution. In the very beginning of the pandemic, I was trying to find a way that you could balance opening the economy and staying safe. With the vaccines coming, what really needs to be done now is to have a plan for the re-emerging Philippine economy. What do we do? How do we, how, pa'no natin bubuhayin ulit yung mga nalugi?
Toni: In the eyes of public, you have lived a privileged life, and parang iniisip nila, you seem to have everything. If there's one thing that you think that you don't have, ano po yun?
Bongbong: I agree with that public perception. I, well, in earlier part of my life, the privileges we enjoyed, we grew up in comfort, we are never giddied for anything. What is it that's kulang pa in my...
Toni: Do you think that you don't have, because you seem to have everything.
Bongbong: I'm jealous of you. I wanted to be ano, I wanted to be a musician.
Toni: Sabi nga po ng anak niyo, if you weren't in politics, rock star nga daw po kayo.
Bongbong: Ay, iyon, 'yon, dalawa lang ang ambisyon ko nung maliit ako, mga when I was about twelve years old, maging rock star, maging astronaut.
Toni: Sinong idol niyong rock star nun?
Bongbong: Stones, MacGyver. Well, The Beatles, all of them, all of them, The Who. I became friends with all of them, we mentioned it. Oo, nakilala ko silang lahat. Siyempre, nakatunganga 'ko na ganun because ano...
Toni: If you were to introduce the name Marcos to the new generation, how would you introduce yourself to them?
Bongbong: Well, I'm the son of the longest-lasting President who brought the Philippines into the modern world really, and we became, and he, who brought to the Philippines a sense of nationhood. I'd been asked many times, 'What's the most important part of your father's legacy?' I'd say the most important part is that sense of nationhood, when we were proud to be Filipino, and we would go out, abroad, and say, 'Pilipino kami.' I think that was the first thing, and at a small part of that was OPM, was the Original Pinoy Music, because that's the culture, yung you learn about, 'Ah, this is what it means to be a Pinoy. This is what it means to be Filipino,' and that happened during his time, and if you ask me, despite all of the successes that he had, built all the roads, the schools, educational system, the medicals, medical, that's all wonderful, and something that we should continue to do. It's that sense of nationhood, and we were united as one. We were all working in the same direction, working in the same direction, and we've lost that a little bit, and that's what I would like to, that's how that I would introduce myself. I would like to restore that. Nasa ugali naman ng Pilipino na matulungin e. Nasa ugali natin yung bayanihan. Kailangang gisingin lang ulit e. Kailangang magtulungan uli tayo. Medyo nakikita natin during the pandemic, random acts of kindness.
Toni: Bayanihan, tulungan.
Bongbong: And just because Pinoys are just great, I mean, Pinoys are the best. They're the kindest, most gracious, most masipag, most resourceful. We never give up, you know. Masyado nang mahirap, gagawa ng joke. Sa'n ka naman nakakita ng ganun? Hirap na hirap na, nagpapatawa pa.
Toni: Very resilient.
Bongbong: Tough. We're tough, not in that arrogant or aggressive way, we're tough in a very gentle, Asian way, which is for me, the most remarkable quality that Filipinos have. We're the best. Pinoys are the best. You can bring them anywhere, ask them to do anything, basta't you, back upan mo, basta't you support them, they'll do good. You cannot put a Pinoy down.
Toni: 'Yan.
Bongbong: They won't stop, especially, 'pag it, for the family.
Toni: So, that's the best quality of a Pinoy. If I were to ask you naman po, what's your best quality?
Bongbong: My best quality? It's against my nature to...
Toni: But how are you po as a husband? How would you describe yourself as a husband?
Bongbong: Me? As a parent, as a husband, I think I'm pretty typical, that I'm, you just, again, you're just trying to do your best, you're always trying to do your best. Of course, you never succeed, you don't succeed every time, but that's it, that's all you can do. That's a good question, how do I describe myself as a husband? I'm now trying to compare myself with friends of mine. I think, at this stage, in our family's life, it's really to be close to the family, as close to the family as you can, so even if you're working for something much, much bigger than just your family, but still remains the focus of your life. I'm, you know, when you retire, I could retire and just give up, but what will my kids think, 'di ba? 'Tinamad na yung tatay namin. Ayaw na e.'
Toni: Speaking of tired, what are you tired hearing about?
Bongbong: Lies. I'm really tired of hearing lies that have already been disproven, not necessarily about my family, about me. Some people have the idea that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth, and so they keep repeating things. It's just tiresome, pero like I said, may pagkamanhid na rin ako, kasi alam ko naman, ganyan naman talaga e. Kung ayaw mong cinicriticize ka, 'wag kang, don't go into public life. When people are spouting lies, I always tell myself, 'Don't worry about it. You have the advantage, you know the truth,' so I take refuge in that.
Toni: And your truth is?
Bongbong: And the truth is not what you're saying. It's entirely something else. Just think of the things that were being said in '86, February, March, April. With all the things na sinasabi, 'Nakadiskubre kami ng gan'to, ng ganyan-ganyan,' all of them have been proven as lies, pero sige pa rin. Sige pa rin sila. O, sige, kung talagang 'yan ang gusto niyo, gusto niyo sayangin ninyo yung buhay niyo diyan, 'di sige, that's your business. Tama si Taylor Swift, you know, 'Haters gonna hate,' right? That's what they are. That's what they do is hate.
Toni: So, what do you focus on now po?
Bongbong: Work. I guess, that's where we're headed.
Toni: Back to work.
Bongbong: What else are you going to do? The best thing that you can do is to help other people, is to help many other people, as many people as you can, and what could be better than that? I can't think of anything that could be better than that.