The return of the Marcos: the son of the dictator will be the new president of the Philippines

• Elections The convulsive Duterte era comes to an end in the Philippines

Ferdinand Marcos

fled with his family from Manila in 1986 in a helicopter loaded with 24 gold bars, 413 jewels and 27 million Philippine pesos, just under half a million euros.

A popular uprising succeeded in overthrowing a corrupt regime that, under martial law, looted the country and imprisoned, tortured and murdered thousands of Filipino dissidents.

Now, 36 years later, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son of the dictator and Imelda, the world's most notorious shoe fetishist, has won a democratic election and will be the new president of the Philippines.

If the late Marcos Sr. marked one of the country's darkest periods -70,000 prisoners, 34,000 tortured and 3,240 dead, according to Amnesty International-, Marcos Jr., known as

, has achieved a collective amnesia by rewriting history by presenting the legacy of his mentor like the golden years of the Philippines: economic prosperity;

infrastructure development;

peace and order.

All the abuses and thefts reported in the past are nothing more than rumors and lies.

That is the mantra repeated over and over again by his army of followers, who managed to turn social networks into the main electoral arena.

There, Bongbong, at 64 years old, moves like no one else.

He has shied away from going head-to-head with other candidates in televised debates.

Also the interviews.

His exposure has focused on

that have launched him to stardom in a country where 70% of the 110 million inhabitants spend an average of four hours and 15 minutes a day connected to the networks.

Nearly 67 million Filipinos were called to the polls on Monday to elect the replacement for the controversial Rodrigo Duterte, who has reached the end of his six-year term and is constitutionally barred from standing again.

Among the ten candidates that were presenting themselves in these elections, Marcos Jr, of

, with nearly 80% of the count, sweeps by caressing 60% of the votes.

He has also won by a large majority his running mate who was running for vice president, Sara Duterte, daughter of the outgoing president.

The Marcos return to power with more than 25 million votes.

A victory that has roared loudly, especially in its traditional bastion, llocos Norte.

There is the

, the former residence of the President of the Philippines, converted into a family sanctuary, where visitors can take photos with the portraits of Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda.

Inside Marcos Jr.'s childhood room, hanging next to a bed, is a portrait of the leader wearing a golden crown and riding on clouds on the back of a white stallion.

In one hand he carries the flag of the Philippines.

In the other, a bible.

As the Marcos family was flying into exile after the People Power revolution ended 20 years of bloody and corrupt dictatorship, Filipinos stormed the Malacañang Palace.

- which are now in a Manila museum.

The photos with all the garments traveled the world as a symbol of corruption in the Philippines.

Following Ferdinand's death while in exile in Hawaii, a court in the Pacific archipelago found him responsible for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who sued him for

.

The Marcoses also spun a philanthropic smokescreen that hid the legacy of the Philippines' biggest thief: the dictator looted the country's coffers, cut costs on construction projects, embezzled aid funds abroad and maintained a warren of Swiss bank accounts. , all for an estimated sum of 10 billion dollars.

Rehabilitation

The widow and children were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991, a couple of years after the patriarch's death.

Since then, they have been making up political ground at the polls, with

.

In 2016 he ran for vice president but lost to Leni Robredo, the human rights lawyer who was his strongest rival in the current presidential race.

Launching his bid to lead the country, Marcos Jr touted a "unifying leadership" to make the Philippines great again.

Although he did not openly advocate a return to dictatorship, the former senator stated that "if my father were allowed to continue with his plans, I think we would now be like Singapore."

His opponents say that his victory is due in large part to the fact that his team has been able to touch up his family's grim history on social networks, courting young Filipinos with more than 200 weekly videos in which he mixes everyday scenes with his three children in their twenties. , with a lot of propaganda in which he defends the family legacy, boasting of economic development when the reality is that the Philippines is still paying the debt inherited from those years in which Marcos Sr. failed in his attempt to replicate the economic miracles of Asian neighbors such as South Korea and Singapore.

The Philippine Constitution of 1987 sought to restore democracy while protecting the interests of political dynasties and leading oligarchs.

The lack of radical reforms meant that the Asian country is still

: more than 70% of the elected officials in the country belong to old political dynasties.

In Congress, the proportion has reached more than 80%.

"It's no wonder then that the Marcoses, despite being convicted of various criminal charges, never served a sentence," explains

, a researcher at National Chengchi University and the author of a book on populism in the Philippines during the war.

it was Duterte.

Imelda, in her skyscraper

Imelda Marcos, 92, who lives in a Manila skyscraper, is appealing her criminal conviction on seven separate corruption charges in 2018, each of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 11 years.

The new president was convicted of tax evasion, yet he has been allowed to run for and hold multiple offices over the decades.

"Systemic impunity has gone hand in hand with the historical money laundering in the country's educational institutions, as well as with the continuous online proliferation of propaganda in favor of Marcos," says Heydarian.

As reported by Reuters, as president, Marcos will control the Presidential Commission for Good Government (PCGG), which is dedicated to investigating and recovering his family's assets after the looting of the dictatorship.

The PCGG recovered about $5 billion of Marcos' fortune, PCGG President

explained .

But another 2.4 billion are still stuck in litigation.

The new chief executive has the authority to appoint the PCGG commissioners and the Ombudsman, who oversees corruption complaints against the government.

He also chooses the governor of the Central Bank, who heads the national anti-money laundering council, and the head of the anti-corruption commission.

With the power to move chips in these key positions, many analysts believe that Marcos Jr will try to shut down what he defines as "rumors" about the looting of his family.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• Rodrigo Duterte