Marcos Jr. won Philippine presidency, unofficial count shows
Landslide victory reversal of revolt that ousted father
MANILA, PHILIPPINES 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.
Marcos Jr. had more than 30.8 million votes in the unofficial results with more than 97 per cent of the votes tabulated as of Tuesday afternoon.
His nearest challenger, Vice-President Leni Robredo, a champion of human rights, had 14.7 million votes in Monday’s election, and boxing great Manny Pacquiao appeared to have the third highest total with 3.5 million.
His running mate, Sara Duterte, the daughter of the outgoing president and mayor of southern Davao city, had a formidable lead in the separate vice-presidential race.
The alliance of the scions of two authoritarian leaders combined the voting power of their families’ political strongholds in the north and south but compounded worries of human rights activists.
Dozens of anti-Marcos protesters rallied at the Commission on Elections, blaming the agency for the breakdown of vote-counting machines and other issues that prevented people from casting their votes.
Election officials said the impact of the malfunctioning machines was minimal.
A group of activists who suffered under the dictatorship said they were enraged by Marcos’s apparent victory and would oppose it.
“A possible win based on a campaign built on blatant lies, historical distortions and mass deception is tantamount to cheating your way to victory,” said the group Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law. “This is not acceptable.”
Etta Rosales, a former Commission on Human Rights chair who was twice arrested and tortured during martial law in the 1970s, said Marcos Jr.’s apparent victory drove her to tears but would not stop her from continuing efforts to hold the Marcoses to account.
“I’m just one among the many who were tortured; others were killed, I was raped. We suffered under the Marcos regime in the fight for justice and freedom and this happens,” Rosales said.
Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte avoided volatile issues during their campaign and instead stuck steadfastly to a battle cry of national unity, even though their fathers’ presidencies opened some of the most turbulent divisions in the country’s history.
Marcos Jr. has not claimed victory but thanked his supporters in a late-night “address to the nation” video, where he urged them to stay vigilant until the vote count is completed.
“If we’ll be fortunate, I’ll expect that your help will not wane, your trust will not wane because we have a lot of things to do in the times ahead,” he said.