Francis Leo Marcos’ withdrawal from Senate race delays ballot printing

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

MANILA, Philippines — The withdrawal of social media personality Francis Leo Marcos from the senatorial race on Thursday caused a delay in the ballot printing of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the third time.

Marcos, whose real name is Norman Mangusin, filed his certificate of withdrawal at Palacio del Gobernador, which was personally received by Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia.

Mangusin said he did not want to cause inconvenience to the Comelec, which is why he decided to withdraw from the senatorial race.

But Garcia said due to the withdrawal of Mangusin, the scheduled printing of ballots on Friday, Jan. 24, would no longer push through.

“We are announcing that the printing of ballots will resume on Monday,” Garcia said in an ambush interview.

In November 2024, the Comelec declared Mangusin a nuisance candidate, reversing the poll body’s ruling in 2021 allowing him to run for 2022 polls.

Garcia said Mangusin would use his stage name “Francis Leo Marcos” on the ballots, which would have caused confusion among voters since his name would come first before Sen. Imee Marcos.

On Jan. 14, the Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of senatorial aspirant Subair Mustapha. The printing of over six million ballots already began on Jan. 6, but the Comelec had to discard it since it did not contain the name of Mustapha, which cost the Comelec P132 million.

The printing of ballots including the name of Mustapha was supposed to be done on Jan. 22.

On Jan. 21, the SC issued another TRO, ordering the Comelec to put Mangusin’s name on the ballot.

However, the withdrawal of Mangusin pushed the ballot printing schedule for several days since the Comelec had to generate new ballot faces without his name, which also had to be checked and verified again before another serialization process.

READ: Two Marcoses on 2025 election ballots as ex-nuisance bet uses stage name

Mangusin, however, denied that someone approached him to withdraw.

“I haven’t talked to anybody,” he said. “My principles can’t be bought.”

He has since endorsed Sen. Marcos’ reelection bid.

READ: ‘Mahal ko ‘yan’: Francis Leo Marcos backs Sen. Imee’s reelection bid

In the 2022 elections, Mangusin, who was known for his viral “Mayaman Challenge,” ranked 27th in the senatorial race after getting over 4.5 million votes.