‘Nuisance’ bet Francis Leo Marcos quits Senate race

Internet personality Norman Mangusin, aka Francis Leo Marcos, hands over his certificate of withdrawal to Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia at Palacio Del Gobernador on Jan. 23, 2025, Thursday. INQUIRER.net/John Eric Mendoza

MANILA, Philippines — After securing a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court, which stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from disqualifying him from running in May for being a “nuisance” candidate, social media personality, businessman and philanthropist Francis Leo Marcos officially withdrew from the Senate race on Thursday.

The 45-year-old Marcos, who is Norman Mangusin in real life, filed his statement of withdrawal at the Comelec central office in Manila before Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia.

“The main reason for my withdrawal is for the [Comelec] to avoid spending another P132 million for me [just to reprint the] ballots. If I allow them to shred the six million ballots that have already been printed just for my sake, then I won’t be a good person,” Marcos told reporters.

He also called on his supporters to vote for reelectionist Sen. Imee Marcos, whom he would have displaced in the alphabetical listing of senatorial candidates on the official ballot had he pushed through with his candidacy.

Garcia said the resumption of the printing of ballots would take place on Monday morning as the poll body would need to adjust the election management system database, generate new ballot faces or templates, and conduct another round of ballot serialization—procedures that would take two to three days.

“At least there’s no effect [on the Comelec] in terms of [printing] cost. His (Marcos’) withdrawal is a great help to Comelec because we won’t be experiencing any more difficulties—just think, what if we’re already printing and there will be withdrawals?” he added.

Only one Marcos

According to Garcia, the Comelec also expects there will be no more confusion among voters because there will be just one senatorial candidate with the surname Marcos.

The poll body stopped the printing of ballots on Jan. 14 and discarded about six million ballots worth about P132 million in compliance with a TRO order from the Supreme Court, this time in favor of senatorial candidate, Subair Mustapha. He had also been declared a nuisance candidate.

Printing was supposed to resume on Wednesday but the Comelec postponed it again to Saturday to accommodate Francis Leo Marcos, who secured a TRO on Monday.

Marcos also unsuccessfully ran for senator in the 2022 elections, placing 27th with 4.5 million votes. His candidacy was allowed by the Comelec despite a petition to declare him a nuisance candidate.

He gained attention on social media after launching the “Mayaman Challenge” which appealed to the rich to donate to people affected by lockdowns at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marcos claims to be a son of the former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. but this was vehemently denied by the late strongman’s family.