The son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos won a landslide victory in the presidential election in the Philippinesa bet by the Asian country that the return to power of this dynasty to power brings relief to poverty despite the questions that surround it.
With almost all the ballots counted, Ferdinand Marcos son had achieved above 56% of the votesmore than double that of the liberal candidate Leni Robredo, according to the results of the Electoral Commission.
With a lead of more than 16 million votes, the Marcos family is experiencing an impressive reversal of fortune in just a few decades, since coming to power, leaving the country as a pariah, and now returning to the presidential palace.
About 67 million Filipinos were entitled to vote in these general elections in which vice president, deputies, half of the senators, provincial governors and thousands of other local officials were also elected.
In 1986, Marcos Sr. and his wife Imelda went into exile, expelled by a “popular power” revolution.
Marcos son refused in his campaign to denounce the excesses of brutality and corruption of his family, and rather he took care to cover up what happened in that period.
Thus, Filipino voters turned to support Marcos, with memories of the regime erased by the passage of time.
“He will lift the country out of the poverty we live in now,” said Anthony Sola, a former police officer and Marcos supporter who said he was enthusiastic.
The 50-year-old dismissed claims that the Marcos family stole $10 billion during their last term in power: “I don’t think they stole money because if they had, they would have to be in jail.”
In a late-night speech from his campaign headquarters in Manila, Marcos thanked the volunteers who supported his candidacy for months of “sacrifice and work.” He avoided claiming victory by warning that “the count is not ready.” A certified count is expected after May 28.
Rights threatened
In the streets, however, hundreds of excited supporters set off fireworks late into the night, waved the national flag and climbed into parked vehicles to celebrate their candidate’s victory.
Marcos’ campaign has gone to great lengths to cover up the excesses of his father’s regime and to take advantage of voters’ disenchantment with recent governments.
After six years of authoritarian rule of Rodrigo DuterteHuman rights advocates, the Catholic Church and political analysts have expressed fear that Marcos will be driven to govern even more harshly if he wins by a wide margin.
“We believe that the human rights crisis is going to get worse in the country,” said Cristina Palabay, general secretary of the human rights alliance Karapatan.
But Marcos and his vice-presidential candidate, Sara Duterte, both sons of authoritarian leaders, have insisted they are best qualified to unify the country.
Hundreds of thousands of red-clad supporters poured into Marcos and Duterte’s rally in Manila on Saturday at the close of their campaign.
An assistant, Josephine Llorca, considered it better to bet on another Marcos because the governments after the 1986 revolution that deposed the then dictator did not improve the lives of the population.
“We tried it and they were even worse than Marcos’ time,” said Llorca. Other candidates were the former boxer Manny Pacquiao and the actor Francisco Domagoso. AFP
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