In the Philippines, the Marcos name is back in the spotlight
Vice presidential candidate ‘Bongbong’, as Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is known, has been leading most opinion polls ahead of the Monday’s election, marking the stunning revival of a name synonymous with martial law, torture and billions of dollars of plundered wealth
For two decades, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos pilfered billions from the country’s public coffers; his government reportedly tortured opponents by shocking them with live wires and burning them with irons. After his ouster in 1986, his legacy was so toxic that then-President Corazon Aquino established an office— the Presidential Commission on Good Government, or PCGG — to “restore the institution’s integrity and credibility,” according to its website.
Yet memories of the dictatorship’s brutality have begun to fade, even as the country’s next presidential elections, scheduled for May 9, have brought his name back into the spotlight. Marcos’ son Ferdinand Marcos Jr., known by his nickname “Bongbong,” is leading opinion polls in the vice presidential race. (In the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected separately.)
Many Filipinos believe the country needs a strong, no-nonsense leader to help overcome its struggles with corruption, poverty, drugs and crime.
Ronald Chua, a PCGG commissioner, ascribed Marcos Jr.’s popularity to young Filipinos who did not experience life under his father’s rule.
“To be honest, millennials, they don’t have any idea of what happened in the ’60s and ’70s,” he said. “What they know is only what they read in the books, and it’s just not enough information — what you can read in the textbooks now is, I would say, just 1 per cent of what happened during the time.”