MANILA, Philippines aEUR. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was sworn into office as the Philippine president on Thursday. This was one of the most remarkable political comebacks of recent history, but opponents claim that it was done by whitewashing the image of his family.
His rise to power 36 years after a military-backed “People Power” revolt drove his father to global infamy upends politics in Asia, where monuments, the Philippine Constitution, and a public holiday are all reminders of his father’s tyrannical rule.
Marcos Jr. was inaugurated at noon at the National Museum in Manila by activists and survivors of the martial-law-era. For security, thousands of police officers including SWAT commandos, snipers and anti-riot contingents were deployed in the tourist district at bayside.
Doug Emhoff, the husband of U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, was among foreign dignitaries who attended.
“Wow, is this really happening?” Bonifacio Ilagan was a 70-year old activist who was held and tortured by counterinsurgency troops during the elder Marcos’s rule. This is a nightmare for victims of martial law such as me.
Marcos Jr. will be plagued by such historical baggage and antagonism during his six-year presidency that began at a time when there were severe crises.
After more than 60,000. deaths, the Philippines was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The prolonged lockdowns and severe recession led to the country’s worst recession since World War II. It also worsened hunger, poverty, and unemployment. The pandemic was beginning to ease, but Russia’s invasion in Ukraine sent inflation skyrocketing and raised fears about food shortages.
Marcos Jr. declared last week that he would temporarily serve as secretary to agriculture until he takes office in preparation for any food supply emergencies. He stated that he believes the problem is serious enough and said that he had asked his key advisors to prepare for “emergency scenarios, especially when it involves food supply.”
His election also inherited decades-old communist and Muslim insurgencies, crime and gaping inequalities, as well as political divisions that were exacerbated by his election.
Congress declared his victory last month in a landslide, along with that of Sara Duterte (the daughter of the outgoing president) in the vice-presidency race.
“I ask all of you to pray for me and wish me well. He said, “I want to do well because the president does well when the country does well,” after his congressional proclamation.
Marcos Jr. won more than 31,000,000 votes, and Sara Duterte received more than 32 Million of the 55 million votes cast in May 9 elections aEUR”. These massive wins will give them political capital to face enormous challenges as well doubts arising out of their fathers’ pasts. This was the first majority presidential win in the Philippines for decades.
Rodrigo Duterte, the outgoing president, presided over an anti-drugs campaign which left thousands of mostly poor suspects in their deaths. This unprecedented level of killings was being investigated by the International Criminal Court as a crime against humanity. Although the probe was temporarily suspended in November, the chief prosecutor of the ICC requested that it be resumed immediately.
Marcos Jr., Sara Duterte and others have been asked to assist in prosecuting her father and to cooperate with the international court. This is a serious political problem.
Marcos Jr. is a former senator, governor and congressman who has refused to apologize for the massive human rights violations and plunder he suffered under his father’s rule. He has instead defended his legacy.
He and Sara Duterte avoided controversial topics during the campaign and focused on a call to national unity, even though their fathers’ presidencies created some of the most volatile divisions throughout the country’s past. Marcos Jr. wanted to be judged not by his ancestors but by my actions.
His father was removed from power in 1986 by a peaceful pro-democracy revolt. He died in 1989 in exile in Hawaii.
He was later found guilty by a Hawaii court for human rights violations. The $2 billion award was made to over 9,000 Filipinos who brought a case against him for torture and incarceration as well as extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and other crimes.
Imelda Marcos was allowed to return to the Philippines with her children in 1991. She worked on a remarkable political comeback, supported by a well-funded social media campaign that restored the family’s name.
Marcos Jr.’s alliance with Sara Duterte (whose father is still popular despite his human rights record) and strong name recall as a member one of the country’s most prominent political dynasties helped him win the presidency. Richard Heydarian, a Manila-based analyst, said that many Filipinos remained poor after the Marcos administrations.
Heydarian stated that “these allowed the Marcoses the opportunity to present themselves as an alternative” and that “an unregulated social network landscape allowed their disinformation team to re-brand dark days of martial law as supposedly a golden age in the Philippines.”
The prominent monuments and shrines to democracy built after Marcos’ 1986 fall are located along the main avenue of Manila. Each year, the anniversary of Marcos’ ouster is observed as a national holiday. A presidential commission has been working for decades to recover the ill-gotten wealth of Marcoses.
Marcos Jr. did not explain how he would deal with these stark reminders from the past.
