Bongbong Marcos sweeps the Philippine elections

Bongbong Marcos, son of dictator Ferdinand Marcosachieved a historic and landslide victory in the presidential elections held on Monday in Philippines, according to the provisional count with more than 96% of the votes counted. Marcos, 64, adds more than 30.5 million votes and doubles his closest rival, Leni Robredo, with 14.5 million votes, according to the quick and unofficial count of the Electoral Commission. If these numbers are confirmed, it would mean the return to power of the Marcos family and the first victory with an absolute majority since the patriarch was expelled from power in 1986 after a peaceful popular revolution that ended the despotic and corrupt regime.

“If we are elected, I hope that they will not tire of helping. May their confidence not fade because we have a lot to do for our future,” said Bongbong Marcos during a thank you speech broadcast last night on his official Facebook profile. Despite their fall from grace, the Marcoses returned from exile in the 1990s, following the dictator’s death in Hawaii, and little by little they regained their political power from his fiefdom in Ilocos del Norte, in the northern tip of the country.

Bongbong Marcos, supported by a disinformation campaign to try to rewrite the history of the patriarch’s legacy -accused of looting some 10,000 million dollars from the public treasury and whose regime left at least 3,257 people executed and thousands tortured-, he has not presented a specific political program campaigning with a ambiguous message of national unity.

For her part, Robredo, the only female candidate and who in 2016 defeated Bongbong Marcos in her fight for the vice presidency, asked her followers for “patience” and avoided conceding defeat during her speech after election day. “I know that it is not easy to accept the numbers that are coming out in the quick count. Not only regret, but also clear frustration is what our ranks feel,” said the 57-year-old candidate, when denounce “irregularities” during voting.

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In the elections to elect vice president, also held the day before, Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of the current president and who formed an electoral tandem with Marcos, has a wide advantage, with more than 31 million votes and tripling the number of ballots to her closest pursuer, Kiko Pangilinan with 9.1 million votes, according to the provisional count.

The next president, who will replace the current president, Rodrigo Duterte, will be sworn in on June 30 for a single term of 6 years.