Marcos, son of strongman, poised for Philippines election triumph
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
June 25, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022
Marcos, son of strongman, poised for Philippines election triumph

World+Biz

Reuters
09 May, 2022, 07:40 pm
Last modified: 09 May, 2022, 10:31 pm

Related News

  • Rodrigo Duterte's daughter takes oath as Philippine vice president
  • Marcos as Philippine president a boon for China, awkward for US
  • Philippines' Marcos, Robredo set for rousing final rallies as presidential vote looms
  • Thousands displaced after typhoon Megi hits Philippines
  • Duterte approves inclusion of nuclear power in Philippine energy mix

Marcos, son of strongman, poised for Philippines election triumph

Reuters
09 May, 2022, 07:40 pm
Last modified: 09 May, 2022, 10:31 pm
Teachers and volunteers prepare the voting precinct for the national election, in Magarao, Camarines Sur, Philippines, May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
Teachers and volunteers prepare the voting precinct for the national election, in Magarao, Camarines Sur, Philippines, May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David

Summary

  • Marcos set for historic majority
  • Outgoing leader's daughter seals votes to win vice presidency
  • Marcos accused of seeking to whitewash family's past

Ferdinand Marcos Jr was headed for a stunning victory in the Philippines' presidential election on Monday with double the votes of his nearest rival, putting the son of the notorious late dictator on the cusp of a historic political fightback.

An unofficial tally by the election commission showed Marcos, 64, was close to passing the required 27.5 million votes to secure a majority in a presidential election for the first time since the end of his father's 1965-1986 rule.

The count makes almost certain a previously unthinkable return to power of the Marcos family, 36 years after its humiliating retreat into exile after being toppled in a "people power" uprising.

"I hope you won't get tired of trusting us," Marcos told supporters in remarks streamed on Facebook, a platform at the heart of his campaign strategy.

"We have plenty of things to do," he said, adding "an endeavour as large as this does not involve one person."

Marcos Jr had 26.3 million votes, more than double the 12.5 million votes for Leni Robredo, the vice president, with 81.8% of the eligible ballots counted, according to the unofficial Commission on Elections (COMELEC) tally.

Despite its fall from grace, the Marcos family returned from exile in the 1990s and has since been a powerful force in politics, retaining its influence with vast wealth and far-reaching connections.

Marcos Jr has served as a governor, congressman and senator, his sister, Imee, is currently a senator and mother Imelda, the influential power-broker and widow of the late dictator, served four terms in the House of Representatives.

Strongman approach
Marcos has presented no real policy platform, campaigning on a simple but ambiguous message of unity.

His presidency is expected to provide continuity from outgoing leader Rodrigo Duterte, whose ruthless, strongman approach proved popular and helped him to consolidate power rapidly.

A major boon has been Marcos securing Duterte's daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, as his running mate, tapping her father's support and helping him to make inroads in new voter territory.

The unofficial tally showed Duterte-Carpio winning the vice presidency by a massive margin.

Marcos was criticised for skipping presidential debates and made few media appearances during the campaign, enabling him to limit scrutiny and control his message via a network of influencers and bloggers granted broad access to his events.

The results demonstrate the huge success of a sophisticated social media operation by Marcos, which critics say has sought to discredit historical accounts of cronyism, plunder and brutality during his father's authoritarian rule, about half of which was under martial law.

The Marcos family denies siphoning off billions of dollars of state wealth during its time at the helm of what historians consider one of Asia's most famous kleptocracies.

Many of Marcos's supporters, born after the 1986 uprising, are convinced those past narratives were lies peddled by his opponents.

Unity prevailed 
As the votes poured in, supporters gathered outside the Marcos campaign headquarters, jumping, waving flags and chanting "Marcos, Marcos, Marcos" ecstatically.

"We are very happy because of his wide lead... unity really prevailed," said Melai Ilagan, 20.

"Bongbong Marcos's wish that we all unite is becoming a reality."

The early count indicates Marcos will avenge his loss to Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential election, a narrow defeat by just 200,000 votes that he sought unsuccessfully to overturn.

The two have a bitter rivalry and embody a political chasm that has existed more than four decades, with Robredo allied with the movement that toppled the elder Marcos.

About 65 million Filipinos were eligible to cast ballots to decide on the successor to Duterte after six years in power, plus thousands of other posts, from lawmakers and governors to city mayors and councillors.

COMELEC declared the election to have been "relatively peaceful" and documented 15 security incidents, including what police said was the killing of three members of a peacekeeping force near a polling station in the south.

A high turnout caused long queues, exacerbated in some areas by malfunctions in 533 of the 106,000 counting machines being used, prompting concerns from candidates that COMELEC sought to assuage.

The National Union of People's Lawyers, whose members include people persecuted under Marcos senior's martial law era, said the election outcome was "beyond easy comprehension", and took aim at what it said was Marcos's historical revisionism.

"Fact can really be stranger than fiction. Or to be more precise, fiction can be repackaged into fact," it said in a statement.

"We shall carry on the fight even more intensely and await our redemption from this resurrected nightmare."

Top News

Philippine

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • More than a bridge
    More than a bridge
  • Photo: Ariful Islam Mithu/TBS
    Bangladesh ready to celebrate Padma Bridge opening
  • Photo: Mumit M/TBS
    Padma Bridge is a testimony to courageous decisions and far-sighted leadership of Sheikh Hasina: India

MOST VIEWED

  • The reported action against Sajid Mir comes after years of dillydallying by Pakistan, which feigned ignorance of his existence despite a French court convicting the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s top operative in absentia. (Reuters)
    LeT’s 26/11 attacks mastermind, once claimed to be dead, arrested, says Pak
  • Anti-abortion demonstrators celebrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v Women's Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
    Tears, bubbles, defiance mingle outside US Supreme Court after abortion ruling
  • The Pentagon logo is seen behind the podium in the briefing room at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US, January 8, 2020. Photo: Reuters
    US transfers Afghan Guantanamo Bay detainee after court ruling
  • Gas pipelines are pictured at the Atamanskaya compressor station, facility of Gazprom's Power Of Siberia project outside the far eastern town of Svobodny, in Amur region, Russia November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov.
    Running short of gas: Russia's pipeline repair has Europe worried
  • Abortion rights campaigners participate in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, US, May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud
    US Supreme Court overturns abortion rights landmark
  • The 1970s revisited?
    The 1970s revisited?

Related News

  • Rodrigo Duterte's daughter takes oath as Philippine vice president
  • Marcos as Philippine president a boon for China, awkward for US
  • Philippines' Marcos, Robredo set for rousing final rallies as presidential vote looms
  • Thousands displaced after typhoon Megi hits Philippines
  • Duterte approves inclusion of nuclear power in Philippine energy mix

Features

Our team full of hope and mettle, before we entered the disaster zone. PHOTO: SWAMIM AHMED

How we survived 4 days in Sunamganj flood

17h | Panorama
Photo: Bipul Sarker Sunny

Immigrants or refugees: Who really are the Maldoiyas?

18h | Features
Selim Raihan, executive director, Sanem. Photo: TBS

'To make full use of the bridge's connectivity in this region, we need Padma Plus'

19h | Interviews
‘We will keep our votes in pockets but won’t vote for the chairman-members’ 

‘We will keep our votes in pockets but won’t vote for the chairman-members’ 

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Messi means record, record means Messi

Messi means record, record means Messi

6h | Videos
Zovan, Safa to star in '24 Ghonta'

Zovan, Safa to star in '24 Ghonta'

7h | Videos
Modern rehabilitation centre for those affected by Padma Bridge land acquisition

Modern rehabilitation centre for those affected by Padma Bridge land acquisition

8h | Videos
What are included in Padma Bridge inauguration ceremony?

What are included in Padma Bridge inauguration ceremony?

9h | Videos

Most Read

1
Photo: Prime Minister's Office
Bangladesh

New investment in transports as Padma Bridge set to open

2
Japan cancels financing Matarbari coal project phase 2
Bangladesh

Japan cancels financing Matarbari coal project phase 2

3
Photo: TBS
Infrastructure

Gains from Padma Bridge to cross $10b, hope experts

4
Desco wanted to make a bold statement with their new head office building, a physical entity that would be a corporate icon. Photo: Courtesy
Habitat

Desco head office: When commitment to community and environment inspires architecture

5
Multiple robbery incidents reported in flood stranded Sylhet and Sunamganj
Bangladesh

Multiple robbery incidents reported in flood stranded Sylhet and Sunamganj

6
20 businesses get nod for $326m foreign loan for expansion
Economy

20 businesses get nod for $326m foreign loan for expansion

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
Workers unload wheat at Anu Mia Chowdhury Ghat at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port on the banks of River Karnaphuli on Thursday. Importers are importing large quantities of wheat from Canada, India, US, and Australia to meet the country’s food demand as imports of the essential commodity from Russia and Ukraine have been halted since the start of the Ukraine war. Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin.

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net