MANILA — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the previous Philippines dictator, appeared certain to win the nation’s presidential election on Monday, with a commanding vote margin that heralded a outstanding revival for a household as soon as pressured into exile, however that additionally raised profound questions on the way forward for Southeast Asia’s oldest democracy.
The Marcos household was pushed from workplace in 1986 by the “Individuals Energy” rebellion, with hundreds of thousands of Filipinos uniting to decry lethal abuses and rampant corruption that siphoned billions of {dollars} from the treasury into the household’s private bankroll.
However 5 years later, the youthful Mr. Marcos and his mom have been again within the Philippines. He started working to rehabilitate his household’s identify and chart his personal rise to political affect, profitable key management roles on the state stage earlier than coming into nationwide politics as a senator in 2010.
On Monday, these efforts paid off, with Mr. Marcos on a path to win the most important margin of victory in a presidential race within the Philippines since Corazon Aquino was elected within the wake of the ouster of Mr. Marcos’s father.
Early Tuesday, preliminary returns with greater than 90 p.c of the vote counted confirmed Mr. Marcos with 28.8 million votes, greater than double that of his closest rival, Leni Robredo, the vp.
Mr. Marcos, 64, gained the help of hundreds of thousands of voters who’ve grown disillusioned with their nation’s model of democracy and its failure to deal with the essential wants of its residents. Poverty is widespread, inequality has widened and corruption stays rampant.
His opponents concern that as president, Mr. Marcos will solely deepen the tradition of impunity enshrined by the departing chief, Rodrigo Duterte, who labored to help a Marcos comeback throughout his years in energy.
Mr. Marcos has stated he would attempt to protect Mr. Duterte from worldwide court docket proceedings. And lots of count on Mr. Marcos to attempt to dismantle investigations and prosecutions that stay in opposition to his household.
Pollsters stated the help for Mr. Marcos, who’s extensively identified by his boyhood nickname, Bongbong, immediately correlated with Mr. Duterte’s base. Mr. Marcos’s supporters see in him a glimmer of Mr. Duterte, whose strongman rule stays largely widespread within the Philippines.
Lots of them backed Mr. Marcos as a result of Sara Duterte, Mr. Duterte’s daughter, ran for vp on his ticket. She appeared set to clinch the vice presidency, with almost 29 million votes, greater than triple that of Senator Francis Pangilinan, who ranked No. 2 and ran in help of Ms. Robredo.
However by the point polls closed at 7 p.m., accounts of alarming irregularities had been reported across the country: malfunctioning voting machines, inadequate backup machines, complaints that voters had been left off registration rolls, and that their ballots had been tampered with.
Nonetheless, Mr. Marcos’s lead was so robust early Tuesday that his victory appeared almost inevitable. Official counting begins Tuesday and is anticipated to go for a number of days.
Early Tuesday, Ms. Robredo stopped in need of conceding defeat however acknowledged a “feeling of actual dismay amongst our ranks.”
“We now have not failed,” she assured her supporters, talking from her hometown within the Bicol Area. “We’re simply beginning. An avenue has opened and it’ll not shut down. A motion was born and it’ll not die on the shut of counting.”
However a victory for Mr. Marcos is prone to result in additional erosion of democracy within the Philippines, the place establishments have been obliterated or weakened below Mr. Duterte. His promise to protect Mr. Duterte from an investigation by the Worldwide Prison Court docket for a violent drug warfare that has claimed hundreds of lives has many fearing that impunity for the highly effective will solely deepen.
“Personally, I’m devastated,” stated Sol Iglesias, an assistant professor of political science on the College of the Philippines Diliman. “It is a dashing of the hopes that there shall be a U-turn away from the backsliding towards authoritarian rule that was begun by President Duterte.”
Late Monday evening, spontaneous celebrations erupted outdoors Mr. Marcos’s marketing campaign headquarters, the place enormous crowds of Filipinos had gathered in peaceable protest in opposition to his father greater than three many years in the past. Supporters sang a martial regulation anthem, waved the Philippines flag and chanted: “Bongbong, Sara!”
“This ends our 36-year struggling since 1986,” stated Jean Diaz, a 66-year-old supporter. “I’m past completely happy. That is what we’ve been ready for.”
In a speech to his supporters on Monday evening, with the official vote counting forward, Mr. Marcos urged endurance.
“It’s not over but,” he stated. “Allow us to maintain watch over our votes. And if I do get fortunate, I hope on your endless assist and belief.”
Mr. Marcos has repeatedly stated he wouldn’t apologize for the legacy of his father, who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, and he has campaigned for years to recast the Marcos dictatorship as an period of improvement.
However Mr. Marcos’s identify stays tarnished amongst many Filipinos. Lots of them see the household as a logo of greed and extra, accused by the federal government of looting as a lot as $10 billion from the treasury. The “Individuals Energy” revolt was seen as a mannequin for a lot of different nations with fledgling democracy actions.
“It’s extraordinarily disappointing to see the place we’re at this stage within the recreation,” stated Cleo Anne A. Calimbahin, an affiliate professor of political science on the De La Salle College-Manila.
Mr. Marcos will face a spread of challenges when he begins presiding over a divided nation. He has campaigned on a platform of unity, promising Filipinos that he would “assist them rise once more.” However lots of his coverage proposals stay skinny and he has shunned a lot of the information media and averted almost all debates.
On Ms. Robredo’s facet, a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals, lots of them younger, campaigned door to door for her, seeing in her a pacesetter who might result in change.
Finally, they struggled in opposition to a strong political household that was adept at constructing alliances and avoiding any semblance of accountability.
After the Marcoses returned in 1991, they continued constructing their fief within the northern province of Ilocos Norte, the household’s stronghold. Imelda Marcos, Mr. Marcos’s 92-year-old mom, twice ran unsuccessfully for president.
Mr. Marcos served as vice governor, governor and congressman in Ilocos Norte. In 2010, he entered the nationwide political scene when he was elected senator. He ran for the vice presidency in 2016 and misplaced narrowly to Ms. Robredo by simply over 260,000 votes.
Mr. Marcos drew a lot of his help from the younger, who say they get pleasure from watching his YouTube movies portraying him as a cool mother or father in game-show segments together with his household. A survey has proven that 7 out of 10 Filipinos aged 18 to 24 want him to be president. The nation’s faculty textbooks gloss over the atrocities of the Marcos period.
“I believe he can remedy the whole lot,” stated Chereen Nicole Rivera, a 21-year-old scholar who was celebrating Mr. Marcos’s win. “The cash stolen was not by him, however by his dad. He shouldn’t be judged by the sins of his dad.”
Critics concern that Mr. Marcos will press the courts to overturn the legal convictions in opposition to himself and his mom, and the excellent circumstances in opposition to his household. Mr. Marcos was sentenced to as much as three years in jail in 1995 for tax-related points, however his sentence was overturned on attraction two years later, despite the fact that his conviction stays on the books. In 2018, his mom was sentenced to as much as 11 years in jail for creating personal foundations to cover her unexplained wealth. She posted bail, and the Supreme Court docket continues to be reviewing her attraction.
Individually, the federal government continues to be demanding that the Marcoses pay an property tax of not less than $3.9 billion, which Mr. Marcos has dismissed as “faux information.”
Mr. Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses, had paved the way in which for a full rehabilitation of the Marcos identify. In 2016, he allowed for the daddy’s physique to be moved to the Philippines’ equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery, regardless of protests. And it was not till Sara Duterte made the surprise announcement that she would run for vp as a substitute of president that Mr. Marcos gained his giant lead within the polls.
The alliance of the Marcoses and the Dutertes “has successfully shaped a dynasty cartel,” stated Aries Arugay, a professor of political science on the College of the Philippines Diliman.
“The Philippines is heading increasingly towards an electoral autocracy,” he stated, a system that would elect “one other Duterte, one other Marcos for many years and many years to come back.”
Jason Gutierrez and Camille Elemia contributed reporting.
