Bongbong Marcos, son of a Philippine tyrant: Born lucky?
Ferdinand Marcos Jr led a charmed life growing up as the son of the late Philippine dictator whose name he shares. Now he is plotting his own path to power
“I’m so lucky that I was born a Marcos,” Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr said last year as he threw his hat into the political ring.
In May, Bongbong came heartbreakingly close to winning the vice-presidency. Now he spends his time convincing the Supreme Court he was cheated of victory. Despite the 59-year-old’s loss by only 200,000 votes, President Rodrigo Duterte took the former senator along on his state visit to Beijing in October, telling a Filipino crowd that if Bongbong won his protest, “maybe we will have a new vice-president”.
Last week, Duterte, 71, conveyed to Vice-President Leni Robredo via a text message sent by an aide that she should “desist” from attending cabinet. Robredo resigned her housing brief, warning supporters that plans were afoot for Marcos to steal the vice-presidency.
Duterte has been quite open in showing his fondness for Marcos and insinuating he was cheated. He sees Marcos as his successor. During the campaign he said that if he failed to eradicate corruption, drugs and criminality in three months, “then I will hand over the presidency to Bongbong”.
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Duterte said his father “was a close [political] ally of President Marcos until his death” and he considered Marcos Snr “the best and the brightest” president. He recently revealed that the Marcoses bankrolled his presidential campaign. During a television show last year, Duterte and Bongbong – despite their 12-year age difference – displayed an easy camaraderie and joked about which one of them would run for president. Duterte has made good on his election promise to bury Marcos’ body in the Heroes’ Cemetery. Reports abound that he will appoint Bongbong to his cabinet next year.