#Marcos #takes #Philippines #top #job
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose dictator father and namesake plundered and brutalized the Philippines, has come to the end of a decade-long campaign to rehabilitate the family brand: the presidency.
Marcos Jr., known by his nickname “Bongbong,” will succeed Rodrigo Duterte in the top spot on Thursday after he won a landslide victory in last month’s election.
His victory followed the family’s relentless whitewashing of its past and use of alliances with rival families that control large parts of the country.
In the 36 years since a popular uprising toppled the patriarch and drove the family into US exile, the Marcoses have rebuilt their political fortunes.
Despite his own father’s concerns about his “carefree and lazy” nature, Marcos Jr., 64, made it to the ultimate post.
After narrowly losing the vice presidential race to Leni Robredo in the 2016 election, he was determined their rematch in the May 9 presidential campaign would end differently.
Marcos Jr. vowed to unite the country and made sweeping campaign pledges to create jobs and fight rising prices in the lower-middle-income country.
Marcos said last month he was “humbled” by his success at the ballot box and vowed to “always strive for perfection”.
“I want to do well because when a president does well, the country does well, and I want to do well for that country,” he told reporters after Congress formally ratified the results.
– Polarizing figure –
Raised in the Presidential Palace in Manila, Marcos Jr. wanted to be an astronaut before following in his father’s footsteps into politics.
He served as lieutenant governor and twice as governor of the family’s northern stronghold in Ilocos Norte province, and also served in the House of Representatives and Senate.
His 92-year-old mother, Imelda, said she dreamed of him becoming the country’s leader.
Marcos Jr.’s ties to his father, whose rule was marked by the bloody oppression of years of martial law, have made him one of the nation’s most divisive politicians.
He has benefited from a spate of misinformation on social media, targeting a largely young constituency with no memory of the corruption, murders and other abuses perpetrated during the elder Marcos’ 20-year rule.
His campaign was strengthened by working with Sara Duterte – who won even more votes than Marcos to easily secure the vice presidency – and support from other political elites.
Marcos Jr. and Duterte’s shared history as descendants of authoritarian leaders has alarmed rights groups and many clergymen who fear they will use their victory to entrench themselves in power.
– Political Revival –
Marcos Jr. was at a boarding school in Britain in 1972 when his father declared martial law, sparking widespread corruption and a bloody crackdown on dissidents.
He has defended his father’s rule by citing the initial surge in economic growth and government spending under martial law, which he said was necessary to save the country from Communist and Muslim uprisings.
While he has called his father a “political genius,” Marcos Jr. has distanced himself from allegations of plundering the treasury and economic mismanagement that later impoverished the nation.
“To the world he says: Don’t judge me by my ancestors, but by my actions,” Vic Rodriguez, a close aide, said in a statement after Marcos Jr. claimed the win.
After the ousted dictator’s death in Hawaii in 1989, the Marcoses returned home and began their remarkable revival by being elected to a series of senior positions.
The family’s turnaround was aided by public disillusionment at a persistent gap between rich and poor, as well as allegations of bribery that tainted post-Marcos governments.
To avoid a repeat of the 2016 campaign, when he was dogged by questions about his family’s past, this time Marcos Jr. has snubbed debates with rivals and given few interviews.
Also since his election, Marcos Jr. has rarely spoken to the media, preferring to communicate through Trixie Cruz-Angeles, a lawyer and blogger who was recently named his publicist.
Opponents tried in vain to take him out of the race because of a previous tax conviction. They have appealed to the Supreme Court but seem unlikely to succeed.
They also accused him of exaggerating his educational qualifications and the family for failing to pay nearly $4 billion in estate taxes.
Until recently, outgoing President Duterte was a supporter of Marcos Jr.
But although his party backed Marcos for president, Duterte called him a “weak” leader.
This fueled speculation that Duterte, who is facing an international probe into his deadly drug war, was trying to get assurances from Marcos Jr. about his absence.
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