A recent opinion poll shows that Marcos has a clear lead over incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo ahead of the May 9 election.
Marcos and his Vice Presidential candidate Sara Duterte, daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte, travel around the country campaigning at mass rallies with tens of thousands of listeners.
The message is a promise that everyone will get better if they just stick together, but in addition to promises of lower electricity prices, it has been stingy with details about how and what the Marcos / Duterte couple really want to achieve.
Refers to golden
During the campaign and at the election rallies, he has often referred to the golden years of the Philippines, and then meant the years when his father Ferdinand Marcos senior ruled the country.
Nothing has been mentioned about the prison sentences handed down against Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda, who were forced to flee the country after a popular uprising in 1986, or about the tens of thousands of testimonies of abuse and torture by regime critics under his regime - up to four thousand opposition figures are believed to have been murdered under Marcos years in power.
It is still not clear how much money disappeared from the country's coffers during Marcos' years in power.
"Washes away" traces of torture
It does not seem to matter to today's voters that Bongbong represents a family dynasty that in the history books may symbolize kleptocracy, that is, a leader who uses his political power to seize the country's assets, and who has demonstrably committed a number of human rights violations.
- It has never happened.
- The hidden money gets our own best.
These are some of the answers we get from the loyal voters at the election rally we attend in Batangas.
The work of rehabilitating the family has been going on since the beginning of the 2000s, by both simply changing articles on, for example, Wikipedia and washing and removing words such as dictator and torture.
Texts about the "Golden Years" when Ferdinand Marcos senior built roads and other infrastructure are published on social media;
texts that nostalgically paint the picture that it was better before.
"Old dictatorship is updated"
- Facts are distorted and pure lies are published side by side with the truth without the social media platforms taking responsibility, says Maria Ressa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Her news organization Rappler has reviewed posts on social media and says that they basically have the same sender.
She now warns in an interview with the Wall Street Journal about the development that she thinks threatens democracy:
- The old dictatorship is upgraded and modernized, peppered with songs and emojis.
By using social media, one of the Philippines' most hated families has been rehabilitated to become one of the most respected.
If nothing unexpected happens, the Marcos clan can be back in the presidential palace Malacañang in Manila 36 years after they were forced to leave the country - convicted of corruption, among other things - without anyone serving a single day in prison.