Suddenly, Bongbong Marcos is half a century old. I can’t believe it, I tell him. Neither can I, he says.

In the blink of an eye! 9 years studying abroad. 5 years in exile. 9 years as governor, 6 as congressman. Back to the House.

For some inexplicable reason, so many many of us found it hard to disbelieve a rumor spun during the Martial Law years that the real Bongbong had died and his parents made him live again in the body of a lookalike.

“The rumor persists to this day,” he chuckles when he is among friends, leading them to doubt all over again. Maybe this guy in front of them is a damn good actor, maybe he is not the real Ferdinand Jr.

Real or not, the son of the Dictator/Strongman sees himself as opposition--he’s chairman of his father’s KBL, which exists practically exclusively in the Ilocos and in the mists of myth and history in the minds of today’s senior citizens.

What he’s not is a rabid oppositionist. For one thing, he says, what’s the big deal with GMA wanting or not wanting to be a congresswoman? In the next Congress and under a new President, why would her putative allies continue to kowtow to her when there’s a new President to be beholden to?

Meanwhile, with his gut telling him this is the right time to make a run for the Senate, the ticket is shaping up to look like a crib of strange bedfellows. Among others, Satur Ocampo, Danilo Lim,

Bongbong Marcos-- left, right, center.

What would his father say?

The “Old Man” might want to say, “Isn’t it time you started thinking about becoming president?”

FM was 46 when he entered Malacañang. Sure, his Junior is conscious that he carries a big name, “but I don’t wake up each morning thinking about it.” Breaking into the Senate comes first. There, he says, it should be “back to the basics,” essentially back to “Filipino values.” And maybe, just maybe, an end to those endless investigations.