Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is set to assume the role of Philippines president and succeed Rodrigo Duterte as votes counted from 95.97% of precincts show Marcos leading with 58.82% of the votes. His opponent Leni Robredo won 28.03% of the votes.
It is likely that Marcos Jr will secure around 60% of the vote once the counting ends.
The mandate shows that like his father Marcos Jr. received the strongest mandate for president since his dictator father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. ‘s rule. The family was sent to exile after the 1986 Philippines ‘People’s Power’ uprisings when the Marcos’ were ousted by the pro-democracy supporters.
The Marcos’ returned in the 1990s from their exile and in the subsequent decades members of the Marcos’ family gradually rose to power and occupied powerful posts. Most of Marcos’ descendants are in powerful local and provincial positions and the son, who is namesake of the late dictator, is now in the pole position.
“Any endeavour as large as this does not involve one person. It involves very, very many people working in very, very many different ways,” Marcos Jr, popularly known as Bongbong, was quoted as saying by news agency Nikkei.
During the election campaign, Bongbong painted a different picture for the young Filipinos who voted in this year’s election. Since most of them were born post-Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship, they are mostly unaware of the repression of opposition and gross human rights violations committed by Marcos’.
However, due to lack of economic reforms post the fall of Marcos, people grew disenchanted and voted for regimes which did not adhere to the targets set by the Aquino and subsequent administrations who governed Philippines following the ‘People’s Power’ revolution.
His running mate Sara Duterte – daughter of Rodrigo Duterte – is also leading in the polls. Both of them together will consolidate power between the two political dynasties – the northern Philippines of the Marcoses and southern island of Mindanao of the Dutertes.
Bongbong’s main challenges would be to revive the Philippines economy but analysts and economic experts have told Nikkei Asia that he does not have any concrete plans. It is also likely that he will steer the Philippines towards China and continue with the war on drugs which have caused controversy in Manila and the rest of the nation as many innocents were killed.
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