Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, son of former dictator announces 2022 presidential bid

Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos is the most recent candidate to place a bid for the 2022 Philippine presidential election. He is the son of the late former dictator of the Philippines from 1972 until he was removed from office in 1986 by what is known as the people power movement and he and his family were exiled to Hawaii. His dictatorship was marked with placing the country on Martial Law with extrajudicial killings and corruption. However, despite their family’s exile almost 40 years ago, Marcos’ son, of his namesake, also became a congressman and a senator, like his father. HIs sister had also been an incumbent senator and his mother was elected three times as a congresswoman in their home province of Ilocos Norte. Bongbong previously ran for vice president in 2016, but lost in a close race which he brought up to the Supreme Court. He is a known supporter of Duterte and if Duterte had not retired from politics (see Anna Aller’s blog post on this) he would have wanted Duterte as his vice president. Many fear, especially those who lived during the time of Martial Law and human rights activists that if elected, he will continue the legacy of his own father and more recently, continue Duterte’s War on Drugs. 

The 2022 presidential race will potentially be a tight one one, with many candidates placing their bids including boxer and senator Manny Pacquiao and current vice president Leni Robredo, who Bonbong lost to in his last bid for vice presidency. Bonbong’s bid raises concerns especially  given the context that he continues to deny the atrocities that his father and regime committed and also that his loss in 2016 was a tight race. His sister and mother also being elected to their respective government positions also shows that the Marcos family continues to hold power despite Marcos’ overthrow, their exile, and other crimes committed by the family and the regime.