Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is sworn in as president of an archipelago suffocated by the economic crisis and violence with praise for his father and the dictatorial regime he applied for 21 years
The shadow of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos returns from today larger than ever to the Philippines. The 64-year-old son of the dictator has assumed the presidency of the country after being victorious in the last elections where he received the support of thirty million voters. The paradox is present in multiple ways in this official act. Marcos Jr. accedes to the head of the Government on the same dates that his father established martial law during a corrupt and violent dictatorship in which more than 3,000 deaths occurred, tens of thousands were tortured and arbitrary detentions were used as common currency against dissidents. Another important paradox is that, while the hitherto president Rodrigo Duterte relinquishes power, his mark will also continue in the new cabinet thanks to his daughter, Sara Duterte Carpio, who will hold the vice presidency after a unique alliance between two friendly enemies. .
Everything in this government relay has the makings of a TV series. Marcos Jr. culminates the objective that the family surname be once again associated with the highest position of power in the Philippines after his father was deposed in a popular revolt in 1986. Thus, 21 years of dictatorship whose main memory is embezzlement came to an end. of public funds, authoritarianism and the collection of thousands of shoes of the ‘first lady’, Imelda.
The ‘iron butterfly’, as she is popularly known, has been decisive in the return to the presidency of one of her three sons. He has managed to relegate the excesses and waste of his parents to the background to convince millions of Filipinos that those decades of harsh regime were a time of prosperity. It is the triumph of the power of social networks, where the president has poured messages tailored to him after avoiding debates and public events, and the promises that fruitful years will come with a Marcos in the Executive. Not unrelated to this victory is the critical situation of the archipelago, with more than 3.5 million citizens in extreme poverty according to Oxfam Intermon and frequent armed clashes with different factions of the Islamic insurgency.
The new leader has also taken it upon himself to try to whitewash his mother’s image in interviews where he repeats that he always asks for “advice” because he is a “political genius” who has had “enormous influence in the family.” At 92 years old and on bail since 2018, when a Manila court convicted him of seven crimes of corruption, among the younger generations who did not suffer the dictatorship Imelda is more remembered for her eccentric accumulations of bags and dresses than for the economic havoc caused to the nation. Or because of unfortunate comments like those made while she was being investigated for the murders committed during the dictatorship (“when they went into my closets looking for skeletons, they only found shoes”) or when asked about her influence in that government: “The masses follow class”. In 1986, after being overthrown before the establishment of the Corazón Aquina Executive, the couple ran to take refuge in Hawaii as “friends” of the United States, taking bags loaded with money and jewelry. Imelda and Ferdinand, who died in exile, allegedly defrauded public coffers of up to 10 billion dollars and stored a large fortune in Switzerland.
A demonstration runs through Manila during the investiture to remember the crimes of the dictatorship /
None of this has crept into the investiture ceremony of little ‘Bongbong’, as he is nicknamed Ferdinand Marcos Jr. He has been sworn in at the National Museum of Manila accompanied by hundreds of politicians, public officials and sympathizers before whom he has recalled with pride in his father’s regime. I once knew a man who saw how little he had achieved since independence. And he did. So it will be with his son. You will not receive excuses from me », he assured before an auditorium protected by 15,000 policemen and members of the Army. In the streets, meanwhile, there have been demonstrations demanding “justice for political prisoners”, the paternal legacy that he apparently prefers to ignore.
The man he succeeds, Rodrigo Duterte, does not leave a brilliant legacy either. The six years of his mandate orbit around the blood spilled in a brutal fight against drug trafficking that has left between 6,200 dead, according to the Government, and almost 30,000, according to the count of civil rights organizations. He faces an investigation by the International Criminal Court due to the many shadows cast in this war; above all, the murder of innocents and the unpunished action of paramilitary groups. A member of a prominent political clan in the Philippines, Duterte was mayor of Davao City in his youth and there he became famous for going out on patrol with the police armed with a pistol on his belt in search of criminals.
Sara Duterte, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, Louise, and Imelda Marcos /
That man known as ‘Dirty Harry’ is 77 years old today and has barely carried out his populist campaign, beset by health problems. He got ten million votes less than his rival. Of course, he leaves making sure that the family name continues to lead the Philippines thanks to an alliance of covenience that makes his daughter vice president. He is also distilling resentment. This Wednesday, hours before the presidential ceremony, he ordered the closure of the Rappler digital newspaper founded by journalist María Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize winner for her defense of freedom of expression. Ressa has a long history of complaints and harassment by the Philippine government due to her criticism of Duterte and other high-ranking politicians in the archipelago.
The future of the country is now a mystery. Marcos Jr. faces the challenge of boosting the economy and wants to make food production one of the largest sources of employment and wealth in the Philippines. In fact, he himself has appointed himself Minister of Agriculture to direct the reform of this sector, which is basic to national finances. He must also restore relations with the United States, cooled during the Duterte era, and seek to reassert Philippine leadership in the China Sea. But doubts multiply among his detractors, who see a risk in his personal revisionism, absent of any criticism, of his father’s regime. The Marcos family seems to go to great lengths to repair his image. In this effort, critics frame the tributes of the new president to his father’s legacy and the constant use of social networks to misinform about that past with an iron hand and institutional looting.
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