The son of the most famous villain in the country’s politics has won a resounding electoral victory
THE LAST time someone called Ferdinand Marcos ran for the presidency of the Philippines was in 1986. Supporters of his opponent, Corazon Aquino, wore yellow to rallies as a visual token of their disgust with the corrupt and violent dictatorship over which he presided. The yellow crowds were so vast that when the authorities falsified the count and declared that Marcos had won, voters cried foul, eventually toppling the government in what was dubbed the “people-power revolution”.
The result is all the more striking because Philippine politics since then has been organised precisely to avoid this outcome. The framers of the constitution, adopted in 1987, put in all sorts of safeguards to stop another Ferdinand Marcos from taking power. They were thinking figuratively, not literally, of course: they wanted to prevent an elected strongman from perpetuating himself in power.
In the years since, the family have rotated through provincial and national political offices from their stronghold of Ilocos Norte, in the north of the country. All the while, they have tried to portray the dictatorship as a time of stability and prosperity, qualities that strike a chord with the many Filipinos mired in poverty and violence.
Had she run, she would have been likely to win. It is also possible that she and Mr Marcos would have split the vote and allowed Ms Robredo to win the election. Instead, Ms Duterte decided to join forces with Mr Marcos and run for vice-president, a post which is elected separately from the president in the Philippines. With 61% of the vote, she performed even better in her race than Mr Marcos did in his.
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