SNA (Dallas) — Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., who assumed workplace yesterday, declared, “Choose me not by my ancestors, however by my actions” as he received the 2022 nationwide elections.
The “ancestors” whom he could be judged by, in fact, are his father Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., former dictator of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, and his infamous mom–nonetheless dwelling at age 92–Imelda Marcos, former First Girl of the Philippines.
Having received 59% of the favored vote, Bongbong Marcos and his message garnered extra help than the following 4 candidates mixed, leaving some questioning how he was so efficient in slipping the shackles of historical past. Experiences of damaged ballot machines and fraudulent voting emerged, however even then nothing appeared in a position to stand in the way in which of the Marcos machine.
Whereas his important competitor, former Vice President Leni Robredo, ran her marketing campaign on themes of transparency and good governance, Marcos, in distinction, introduced summary nationwide delight as the explanation why individuals ought to vote for him. He delivered a broad imaginative and prescient of financial prosperity and provided a nostalgic return to former glories.
A part of his message echoes that of his personal father within the 1965 presidential election marketing campaign, when the Philippines was Asia’s second-largest financial system behind Japan.
Bongbong Marcos was additionally in a position to faucet into discontent with the established order, and he painted his important rival Robredo as a consultant of an out-of-touch liberal elite, which many Filipinos affiliate with the dire financial inequality of the nation.
Moreover, he benefitted from a “large tent” method which garnered help from constituencies as various as rich supporters of Duterte-style anti-crime initiatives and the city and rural poor. He successfully introduced himself as a relatable everyman.
Many observers additionally famous the actual savvy of his social media outreach, particularly on Fb and YouTube, reaching a big viewers throughout the archipelago.
On election day, Marcos swept the nation, excluding only some small areas. Among the many areas he dominated had been Quezon Metropolis and Metro Manila, the nation’s largest metropolis and its capital.
All in all, it was a exceptional reversal of fortune for a household that for many years had been thought-about one essentially the most corrupt and unmourned dynasties in Asia.
Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was believed to have been totally discredited when he was chased from energy in 1986. In his last years in workplace, there have been bloody crackdowns on standard protests and quite a few human rights violations. Memorably, Imelda Marcos is sort of completely related together with her obsession with costly sneakers, at one level proudly owning nearly 3,000 pairs that had been suspected to have been bought with authorities cash.
And but, Bongbong Marcos was in a position to not solely overcome public reminiscences of that darkish time, however to in some way rework them into an imagined period of nationwide delight, serving to increase him to a powerful electoral victory.
The rehabilitation of the Marcos dynasty underlines a seamless tradition of impunity inside a Philippine society which continues to be grappling with its huge inequality.
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