Zambo's Lobregat forges alliance with Marcos political party

FORMER LAWMAKER Celso Lobregat and his Team Colorao forged an alliance with the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), the political party of presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos, the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Lobregat, a member of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, told journalists on Wednesday that his group is supporting Marcos’ candidacy and his running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who is a member of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats. 

But Duterte’s political party in Zamboanga City is supporting the team of Rep. Mannix Dalipe being a member of the Lakas-CMD. 

Lobregat, who is running for mayor, said the PFP approached him to ask for support to the Marcos and Duterte tandem in Zamboanga City. The PFP, in return, will endorse Lobregat and Team Colorao candidates. 

He said the PFP and Team Colorao signed the deal during a recent meeting in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province. 

The PFP was represented by Assam Ulangkaya, the party’s vice president for Mindanao and chairman for Membership Committee; Marilou Felicia, PFP regional chairperson; and Marikah Felicia. 

It was unknown how Duterte would deal with Lobregat and his Team Colorao since she and Dalipe belong to Lakas-CMD. Dalipe’s group is also supporting the tandem of Marcos and Duterte. And Dalipe’s younger brother, John, is running against the elderly Lobregat. 

The former strongman and his family ruled the country from 1965 until they were deposed in 1986 and fled to Hawaii where he died three years later. In November 1991, Marcos' wife Imelda and her children were allowed to return to the Philippines by President Corazon Aquino after living in exile in Hawaii for more than five years to face charges of tax fraud and corruption. 

According to the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the  Marcos family stole $5 billion–$10 billion from the Central Bank of the Philippines. The PCGG also maintained that the Marcos family enjoyed a decadent lifestyle, taking away billions of dollars from the Philippines between 1965 and 1986. 

The dictator’s wife made infamous in her own right by the excesses that characterized her and her husband’s conjugal dictatorship, is the source of the term “Imeldific.” Marcos and his wife currently hold the Guinness World Record for “Greatest Robbery of a Government.” (Zamboanga Post)