Former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Thursday said his team had nothing to do with the emergency alerts that appeared to campaign for his candidacy for president in 2022.
Marcos said he too received the emergency alert, just like people who were at the Harbor Garden Tent in Sofitel Manila where the Comelec was signing up national candidates. The alerts came just as Marcos lodged his candidacy for president.
The only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos said he immediately asked his camp who was behind the emergency alerts, and was told that no one from his IT or social media team was aware of it.
"So it's going to be very hard to identify but rest assured, this is not something we will do," Marcos told CNN Philippines in an interview.
Aside from being illegal, Marcos said that sending political advertisements through emergency alerts would not be good for his campaign.
"If you think about it in political terms, this is of no advantage to me. This is a disadvantage to me. Why would I do such a thing?" he said.
"Yung mga nagreklamo ang bilis e. Within minutes marami nang nagrereklamo. Sabi ko siguro sila ang gumawa nito. I filed my candidacy, expected natin yan," he added.
The National Telecommunications Commission has ordered an investigation into the emergency alerts. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said it did not issue such alerts nor did it come from their telco partners.
The Commission on Elections said that while there is no penalty in sending out political advertisements through emergency alerts, such practice is "ill-advised."