The people chose red
The way it looks, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will become the 17th president of the Philippines.
While his victory was not surprising considering the surveys that had him leading from the beginning, it was still shocking to the millions of Filipinos, both those who experienced martial law and those who didn’t, who said they will never again allow a Marcos to sit in Malacañang.
But the people have spoken, for better or for worse. It would be a mistake to ignore what the greater majority want --in this case 30 million voters as of this writing-- right or wrong.
A columnist in this newspaper earlier said that as president, Bongbong can go either one way or the other, by that he meant either follow in the footsteps of his father, or be his own man.
Of course, we know what will happen if he follows in the footsteps of his father. Even if some revisionists have succeeded in doing it, history cannot erase what Ferdinand Sr. did in running the country to the ground, declaring martial law, and causing thousands to be tortured, killed, or involuntarily disappeared.
He was a dictator who managed the country like a personal business to benefit his own family and friends. This remains a fact no matter what revisionists say and do.
Of course, this isn’t what we want Bongbong to become.
On the other hand. He can become the president he says he will be and even bring together the people under what he has been proclaiming as his “platform” all this time; unity, as vague as it sounds until now.
He might turn into that someone who can undo the terrible things that has been done in his father’s and family’s name. To right the wrong committed.
But considering he isn’t president yet, we might be jumping the gun altogether and Bongbong might be something totally different from what we mentioned above.
Time will prove what kind of president Bongbong will be. Let’s hope the 30 million who chose red in 2022 are not wrong, because we are still paying the price after 16 million chose blue in 2016.