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Jun 30, 2022 · Ferdinand Marcos Jr has been sworn in as the Philippine president in a ceremony in Manila, succeeding the outgoing leader Rodrigo Duterte. His inauguration marks a stunning comeback for the...
- Overview
- Early life and public service
- Ascent to the presidency
- The Bongbong presidency
Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (born September 13, 1957, Batac, Ilocos Norte, Philippines) Filipino politician who has been president of the Philippines since 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served in government from the 1980s to the 2010s as senator, congressman, governor, and vice governor.
Bongbong is the scion of a prominent political family in the Philippines. He was born to Ferdinand Marcos, who would rule the Philippines for 20 years, and to Imelda Romualdez Marcos, who would wield great power as first lady during her husband’s rule. His father’s regime, noted for its authoritarian nature and corruption—the family had looted the Philippines’ economy of billions of dollars—was overthrown by a popular uprising (known as People Power Revolution) in 1986, which resulted in the Marcos family going into exile in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, after graduating from elementary school in the Philippines, Bongbong completed (1974) his secondary education at Worth School, a private boarding school in West Sussex, England. He then attended the University of Oxford to study social sciences but reportedly did not complete an undergraduate degree; he was instead awarded a special diploma in 1978. Shortly thereafter Bongbong enrolled (1979–81) in the business administration graduate program at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania; however, he did not graduate.
In 2016 Bongbong ran for vice president of the country; however, Filipino lawyer Leni Robredo defeated him by a small margin. In 2021 Bongbong announced his bid to become the country’s president through a video he posted on YouTube and Facebook. During the 2022 presidential campaign, Bongbong emphasized the unity of the country, which some analysts viewed as an attempt to move past his family’s controversies. Bongbong also advocated for tackling inflation and poverty.
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During the campaign Bongbong heavily leveraged social media platforms—including TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook—to get his messages out and to garner support. His support was further propped up when he formed an alliance with vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte, the former mayor of Davao City and the daughter of the current president, Rodrigo Duterte. The alliance between Marcos and Duterte showed two powerful political families in apparent unity. However, President Duterte was heavily criticized for alleged extrajudicial killings, which resulted in more than 12,000 deaths, and human rights violations during his “war on drugs” campaign, and some were concerned that Bongbong would adopt harsh policies similar to those of President Duterte or of his father. In response to such concerns and to further differentiate himself from his father, Bongbong said in a speech in 2022, “To the world: Judge me not by my ancestors, but by my actions.” Some, however, criticized Bongbong for intentionally ignoring the abuses by his father and spreading disinformation by recasting his father’s rule as a “golden age.”
On June 30, 2022, Bongbong was sworn in as the 17th president of the Philippines, signifying the Marcos family’s successful political rehabilitation since exile. Early in his presidency, Bongbong focused on economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, while president-elect, he had appointed himself agricultural secretary, which gave him direct responsibility to tackle challenges in the agricultural sector as well as inflation of food products. In January 2023 Bongbong signed an executive order to adopt a six-year development plan (officially the Philippine Development Plan) to help with the economic recovery.
In foreign policy, Bongbong showed interest in developing closer ties with the United States, in contrast to his predecessor, who appeared to have steered away from such relations. Bongbong’s efforts to strengthen the alliance have been apparent: in April 2023 he hosted the largest military exercise between the two countries, and in May he visited Washington, D.C., to meet with several U.S. political leaders, including Pres. Joe Biden. While visiting the United States, Bongbong agreed to further strengthen ties between the two countries as well as to clarify the conditions under which the United States would come to the Philippines’ defense (per the 1951 mutual defense treaty signed by the two countries) in light of territorial disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
May 14, 2022 · Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the second child of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, is the presumptive winner of the Philippine presidential election, with U.S. President Joe Biden calling to...
- 4 min
- Erik Ortiz
Jun 30, 2022 · MANILA, Philippines — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the namesake son of an ousted dictator, was sworn in as Philippine president Thursday in one of the greatest political comebacks in recent...
May 9, 2022 · MANILA — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the former Philippines dictator, appeared sure to win the country’s presidential election on Monday, with a commanding vote margin...
May 10, 2022 · Published 7:53 AM PDT, May 10, 2022. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The namesake son of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos appeared to have been elected Philippine president by a landslide in an astonishing reversal of the 1986 “People Power” pro-democracy revolt that ousted his father.
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Jun 30, 2022 · MANILA — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the former dictator, was sworn in Thursday as the 17th president of the Philippines, praising his father’s legacy and pledging to...
