Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas on Thursday said he has withdrawn from the gubernatorial race, paving way for a Marcos scion to run unopposed for the May elections.

“Yes [I withdrew]. I did not really want to run for any office as I want to retire on Jun 30 - after 39 years since I started as Laoag City mayor on March 3, 1980, at the age of 27,” Fariñas told reporters through a Viber thread.

“From Day 1 of the campaign until today, having covered 272 of my district’s 285 barangays, I’ve been announcing in my speeches that I was not running for governor. In fact, I do not have a single campaign poster, nor my name is in our sample ballot. I’ve never even gone to the other district of our province,” Fariñas added.

The youngest son of incumbent Gov. Imee Marcos, a senatorial candidate, Matthew Marcos Manotoc is running without an opponent.

"I hope that given his (Manotoc) youth and vigor, and he has barely served the public in three years, he will serve the province excellently like I did," said Fariñas.

Manotoc substituted his grandmother, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos in the gubernatorial race last November 2018. DMS