Former senator Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said he tested negative for cocaine following the claims made by President Rodrigo Duterte alluding a presidential aspirant was into cocaine.
“I really don’t feel that I am the one being alluded to. In spite of that, I believe it is my inherent duty as an aspiring public official to assure my fellow Filipinos that I am against illegal drugs,” the son and namesake of the late dictator president said in a statement.
“This is why I took a cocaine test yesterday and the result was submitted this morning to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the office of the Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI),” he added.
It was his spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, who submitted his drug test results to the PDEA and the NBI.
Marcos also reiterated that he is and "will remain, a vigilant anti-illegal drugs campaigner."
Duterte has repeatedly made several jabs at a presidential aspirant who he claims is into cocaine. The president alluded to this personality as someone from a rich family, known for its patriarch, and is much-loved by voters today.
In the same statement, Marcos also urged other elective candidates to take the challenge for a drug test in order to ensure that no elected leader will be into illegal drugs.
"And as I made the call during the 2016 election campaign, I'm calling again on all elective aspirants to take the drug test to ensure our people, particularly the young generation, that no elected leader is into illegal substances," Marcos said.
On Monday, Patrido Reporma's standard-bearer Panfilo Lacson and his running mate Senate President Tito Sotto also submitted themselves for a drug test and both yielded negative results.
