A winding road from presidential palace to exile and back again
Ferdinand Marcos Jr appeared to have won the Philippines’ presidential election by a landslide, more than three decades after his father was forced to flee the country during an uprising.
But who is Mr Marcos Jr and what was his route to power?
Q Who is Ferdinand Marcos Jr?
AThe win by Mr Marcos Jr, 64, nicknamed “Bongbong”, is an astonishing reversal of the 1986 “People Power” pro-democracy revolt that removed his father. His win follows a whitewashing of his family’s controversial past.
In the 36 years since the popular uprising pushed the Marcos family into US exile, they have been rebuilding their political fortunes.
Despite his father’s concerns about his son’s “carefree and lazy” nature, Mr Marcos Jr has risen to his country’s top political post. After narrowly losing the vice presidential race to Leni Robredo in 2016, Mr Marcos Jr was determined that their rematch in the presidential contest would have a different ending.
Vowing to unite the country, Mr Marcos Jr made sweeping promises on the campaign trail to boost jobs and tackle rising prices.
What was his campaign like?
Growing up in the presidential palace in Manila, Mr Marcos Jr wanted to be an astronaut before he followed his father into politics.
He served twice as governor of the family’s Ilocos Norte stronghold, and also had stints in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
His mother, Imelda, 92, said she dreamt of him becoming the country’s leader.
Mr Marcos Jr’s links to his father, whose rule was marked by the bloody repression of the martial law years, have made him a polarising politician. He has benefited from a deluge of misinformation on social media aimed at a largely young electorate with no memory of the corruption, killings and other abuses committed during the elder Marcos’s 20-year rule.
His campaign was bolstered by teaming up with Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte, who initial results show won the vice presidential race comfortably. Mr Marcos Jr and Ms Duterte-Carpio’s shared history as the offspring of authoritarian leaders has alarmed rights groups and many in the clergy, who fear they will use their victory to entrench themselves in power.
Has he defended his father’s presidency?
Mr Marcos Jr was at boarding school in Britain in 1972 when his father declared martial law, unleashing widespread corruption and a bloody crackdown on dissent. He has defended his father’s rule by highlighting an initial surge of economic growth and government spending, which he said was necessary to save the country from communist rebels and Islamist extremists.
Although he describes his father as a “political genius”, Mr Marcos Jr has distanced himself from charges of pillaging state coffers and economic mismanagement that later impoverished the nation.
After his father’s death in Hawaii in 1989, Mr Marcos Jr’s family returned home and began their remarkable revival, being elected to a series of leadership positions.
The family’s turnaround has been aided by public disenchantment over an enduring gulf between the rich and poor, and corruption allegations that marred post-Marcos administrations.
Opponents tried in vain to have him disqualified from the race over a previous tax conviction. They also accused him of exaggerating his educational qualifications and the family of failing to pay nearly $4 billion in estate taxes.
Was he supported by his predecessor?
Until recently, Mr Duterte was a backer of Mr Marcos Jr.
But although his party endorsed him, Mr Duterte called him a “weak” leader. This fuelled speculation that Mr Duterte, who faces an investigation into his deadly war on drugs, was trying to secure assurances from Mr Marcos Jr for when he is out of office.