Bongbong Marcos declines to attend KBP presidential forum

Presidential aspirant and former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will not attend the forum for presidential aspirants on Friday.

This was disclosed by Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) president Herman Basbaño in a radio interview on Thursday. The KBP is the organizer of the forum.

Basbaño said Marcos' camp sent a letter saying the former senator could not make it due to conflict in his schedule.

"May letter naman sila (They sent a letter) declining the invitation. I think it was because of some conflicts sa schedules nila," he said.

In a separate statement, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos' spokesperson, confirmed that the former senator would not join the forum.

He noted that while they have been looking forward to Marcos' participation in the event, "his current schedules prevent us from accommodating your request."

The Marcos' camp expressed gratitude to the KBP for the invitation.

"We look forward to engaging with similar KBP initiatives in the future," Rodriguez said.

To recall, Marcos refused to join the interview with GMA Network's veteran journalist Jessica Soho as he accused her of being "biased." In a separate television interview, he said he believes that a "biased" media is a media that is "anti-Marcos."

He also defended himself and said he is not a coward just because he did not join in The Jessica Soho's Presidential Interviews.

GMA Network took exception to the statement of the Marcos camp that Soho is supposedly biased against the Marcoses.

The network stressed that throughout her career, Soho has consistently been named the most trusted media personality in the Philippines by both local and foreign organizations.—AOL/RSJ, GMA News