Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son of the dictator who stole billions of dollars in public funds during his two decades as president, is on track to become the next president of the Philippines, The New York Times reported Monday.
By early Tuesday morning, more than 90 percent of the ballots had been counted, and Marcos had reportedly received more than twice as many votes as his closest competitor — incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The 64-year-old scion poised to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, who is constitutionally limited to a single term, served as a regional vice governor and governor during his father's dictatorship. The Marcos family was exiled from the Philippines when the elder Marcos was overthrown in 1986 but was allowed to return to the country in 1991. Since then, Bongbong has served as a regional governor, member of the country's House of Representatives, and senator.
Last month, The Washington Post reported that the younger Marcos owes much of his popularity to "a years-long, carefully crafted campaign to rewrite history, harnessing the power of social media to blur the lines between fact and fiction." According to the Post, "fun, hip, glossily edited content" glorifying the Marcos dictatorship has proliferated on YouTube and TikTok.
Bongbong's running mate, Sara Duterte — the mayor of Davao city and the incumbent president's daughter — is also on track to win the separate election for vice president.
-
Political cartoons for November 29Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include Kash Patel's travel perks, believing in Congress, and more
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
