Marcos says he's an optimist, conservative, Machiavellian

Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Saturday said he tended to be conservative and knowledgeable in making decisions in order to avoid mistakes. He also explained why he considered himself a Machiavellian.

At the SMNI presidential interviews on Saturday, Marcos was asked whether he was an optimist, a high risk taker, and if he was a Machiavellian.

“Am I Machiavellian? Well I’ve studied him quite thoroughly, and I know very many Machiavellians in my life," Marcos said in reference to political philosopher Nicollo Machiavelli.

"Is it Machiavellian in terms of taking every means to produce an end, not the other Machavellian you know bad Machiavellian?" Prof. Clarita Carlos asked.

“Certainly we have to be aware of everything that is going to help whatever it is that you are hoping to achieve, and on the national scale that means you have to understand very well what the situation is on the ground," Marcos said.

"Kailangan maging maingat so I suppose in the same sense in these questions are related. its a way of being careful and being very very knowledgeable about what other things that come into play so that you will achieve success, whatever that success, however, you define that success," he added.

"In that sense I am Machiavellian," Marcos said.

Marcos said he was  an optimist, adding that the biggest asset of the country was  the Filipino people.

“I am essentially an optimist and the reason why I am optimist because when you talk about the country, we are optimists, I am optimistic because the biggest asset are the Filipino people," Marcos said.

"I tried to be objective about it. I travel all over the world. I have not met better people like Filipinos in every part of the world,” he added.

He, however, said that he tended to make conservative decisions and take precautionary measures in order to avoid making mistakes.

“I tend towards the conservative only because a mistake will cause so much suffering to many people. In other words, you have to be very careful with the decisions you make. And it’s not something you do off hand, you think about it very hard,” Marcos said.

“You talk to as many people as you can and you make absolutely certain that you have done everything that you can possibly do to make whatever your plan is to make it work,” he added. —NB, GMA News