Anxiety Over 2022 Philippine
OpenLife Nigeria has reliably gathered that the decision by Sara Duterte on Monday not to run for the Philippine presidency has heightened the anxiety over 2022 Philippine Presidential contest.
The decision, according to credible insiders, has opened the way for the son of notorious former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos to reclaim a prize the Marcos family has long hankered for.
Officially, Bongbong Marcos has announced his candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2022 election.
The latest surveys show that Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. could corner close to half the total votes in the absence of a rival bid from the Duterte family.
“But the real story of this campaign so far is the bitter infighting between the rival Marcos and Duterte families that has simmered in the background for years,” “For the Dutertes, this is about entrenching themselves in power and shielding Rodrigo from future legal reprisals and political persecution.
For the Marcoses, this is about avenging the family honor. With Imelda Marcos now in her 90s and Bongbong himself in his mid-60s, time is not on their side,” said a concerned Philipino.
Bongbong’s father, Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, the late dictator, born on September 11, 1917 and died September 28, 1989, was a Filipino politician and lawyer who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986.
His regime was widely considered by academics, economists and journalists a kleptocrat.
He ruled as a dictator under martial law from 1972 until 1981and kept most of his martial law powers until he was deposed in 1986, branding his rule as “constitutional authoritarianism” under his New Society Movement.
Regarded as one of the most controversial leaders of the 20th century, Marcos’ rule was infamous for its corruption, extravagance and brutality.
Marcos gained political success by claiming to have been the “most decorated war hero in the Philippines,” but many of his claims have been found to be false, with United States Army documents describing his wartime claims as “fraudulent” and “absurd.”
After World War II, he became a lawyer then served in the Philippine House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine Senate from 1959 to 1965.
He was elected the President of the Philippines in 1965 and presided over an economy that grew during the beginning of his 20-year rule but would end in the loss of livelihood, extreme poverty, and a crushing debt crisis.
He pursued an aggressive programme of infrastructure development funded by foreign debt, making him popular during his first term, although it would also trigger an inflationary crisis which would lead to social unrest in his second term.
While Ferdinand was said to be corrupt, his wife, Imelda Romualdez Marcos raised the bar by acquiring monumental wealth.
Born July 2, 1929, the now-convicted criminal was First Lady of the Philippines for 21 years, during which she and her husband stole billions from the Filipino people.
They amassed a personal fortune estimated to have been worth US$5 billion to US$10 billion by the time they were deposed in 1986.
By 2018, about $3.6 billion of this had been recovered by the Philippine government through compromise deals and sequestration cases.
Her records show she ordered the construction of many grandiose architectural projects, using public funds and “in impossibly short order” – a propaganda practice, which eventually came to be known as her “edifice complex.”
The People Power Revolution in February 1986 unseated the Marcoses and forced the family into exile in Hawaii.
In 1991, President Corazon Aquino allowed the Marcos family to return to the Philippines to face various charges after the 1989 death of Ferdinand Marcos.
Imelda Marcos was elected four times to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, and ran twice for the presidency of the Philippines but failed to garner enough votes.
She and her family gained notoriety for living a lavish lifestyle during a period of economic crisis and civil unrest in the country.
She spent much of her time abroad on state visits, extravagant parties, and shopping sprees, and spent much of the State’s money on her personal art, jewelry and shoe collections – amassing 3,000 pairs of shoes.
She and her husband Ferdinand hold the Guinness World Record for the Greatest Robbery of a Government.
The subject of dozens of court cases around the world, she was eventually convicted of corruption charges for her activities during her term as governor of Metro Manila in 2018; the case is under appeal.
Now, their only son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. seeks the presidential seat for the family’s continuity as controllers of Philipine’s commonwealth
Born September 13, 1957, Bongbong served as a senator from 2010 to 2016. He is the second child and only son of his father and mother.
In 1980, the 23-year-old Marcos Jr. became Vice Governor of Ilocos Norte, running unopposed under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party of his father, who was ruling the Philippines under martial law at the time.
He then became Governor of Ilocos Norte in 1983, holding that office until his family was ousted from power by the People Power Revolution and fled into exile in Hawaii in February 1986.
After the death of his father in 1989, President Corazon Aquino eventually allowed the remaining members of the Marcos family to return to the Philippines to face various charges.
He was elected as Representative of Ilocos Norte’s 2nd congressional district from 1992 to 1995. Marcos ran for and was elected Governor of Ilocos Norte again in 1998. After nine years, he returned to his previous position as Representative from 2007 to 2010, then became Senator of the Philippines under the Nacionalista Party from 2010 to 2016.
In 2015, Marcos ran for Vice President of the Philippines in the 2016 election. With a difference of 263,473 votes, 0.64 percent difference, Marcos Jr. lost to Camarines Sur representative Leni Robredo.
In response, Marcos filed an electoral protest at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, with claims and accusations of cheating.
In 2021, Marcos’ petition was unanimously dismissed after the pilot recount of the chosen provinces of Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Camarines Sur which resulted in Robredo widening her lead even more by 15,093 additional votes.
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