A year ago to the day, on May 9, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos was brought to power. In this series of three texts, The duty takes the pulse of the capital of the Philippines and the north of the country. Today: how Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior managed to thwart the odds without completely forgetting his family’s dark past.
The visitor who crosses the door of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, literally the “Monument of heroes” in Tagalog, erected in the heart of Metro Manila in memory of the victims of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, is very quickly overwhelmed by the weight of pain. , but also by that of… abandonment.
Cracked concrete, central square covered with plant debris, bouquets of faded flowers left at the foot of the wall bearing the names of hundreds of martyrs, the memorial, barely indicated from the outside, does nothing to attract crowds. But, a year after the spectacular election to the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Junior, son of the former strongman of the Philippines, he is still there. To everyone’s surprise, including that of the director of the premises.
“As you can imagine, for years we haven’t received much help and even live in constant fear of being relocated or of disappearing,” says Cristina Rodriguez, sitting in an equally neglected office, located behind of the central monument. This can happen anytime, especially since the return of the Marcos family to power! But we survive, with the help of private donations, hoping to be, for the moment, very far in the priorities of the new president. »
A year has passed since the polls granted “Bongbong” Marcos, nickname given to the son of the dictator, his ticket to Malacañang, the palace of the presidency, held with an iron fist by his father, Ferdinand Marcos, after two elections, in 1965 and 1969, but especially during the fourteen years of his dictatorship which followed the declaration of martial law in 1972.
A dark period marked by at least 3,250 extrajudicial executions, 77 disappearances, 70,000 imprisonments of political opponents and 35,000 documented cases of torture, according to Amnesty International. The Marcos years are also those of the looting of national wealth by the dictator and his wife, Imelda, who entered the Guinness Book of Records three decades ago for being at the origin of the “greatest theft carried out by a government”. history: 860.8 million dollars embezzled, according to the balance sheet established by the Philippine government after the fall and exile of the dictator in the United States in 1986.
During his long presidency, the family’s hands in the state coffers would have resulted in national losses estimated between 5 and 10 billion dollars, inevitably leaving the memory of the worst to accompany the return to power of Marcos Jr. A worse than BBM, as he is called here, seems to have cleverly conjured up, a year after handing over his clan to the head of state.
“I have to admit that he is doing better than we might have thought,” summarizes, sitting in a cafe in the capital of the Philippines, Ellen Tordesillas, president of Vera Files, independent online media criticizes the presidential ambitions of Marcos Junior as well as the disinformation campaigns deployed in the ten years preceding his electoral victory by his team to rewrite the past and clear the name of the family from voters. The strategy worked well. In May 2022, BBM was elected with over 58% of the vote.
She adds: “At the same time, anyone after Rodrigo Duterte [son prédécesseur], who was one of the worst presidents of the Philippines, can only look good, even if he does not do much. Of course, there remains a Marcos, who cannot help but be attached to his father’s legacy. And that’s why you have to keep an eye out. »
Sustained confidence
Despite the difficult times that the country is going through, also hit by the global economic crisis and the soaring prices that affect the daily lives of the poorest, the popularity of the new president remains at peak levels: 80% of Filipinos still express blind confidence in he and 78% approve of his work at the end of his first year in office, according to a Pulse Asia survey launched in the population last March.
“For many Filipinos, this new configuration of power works, summarizes the sociologist Jayeel Cornelio, met at the Ateneo de Manila University. He gives the impression of doing the right things for them and above all of saying the right thing at the right time”, reaffirming, among other things, in recent weeks, the country’s sovereignty in the face of growing intimidation from fishermen and security guards. Philippine coasts by the Chinese military in the sea that separates the two countries or even by opening the door to the import of onions in an attempt to stem the spectacular rise in the price of this staple food, multiplied by 10 during the last month of 2022. We have been talking about this vegetable as a “luxury product” since last December.
“It also plays a lot on the fatigue of Filipinos in the face of violence and animosity that feeds public debates,” he adds. A climate that Marcos Junior and his team have ironically helped to fuel through coordinated online campaigns aimed as much at erasing the traces of his father’s past as at denigrating his political opponents, with great blows of lies, misinformation and realities ” alternatives,” enshrined in easy-to-stream videos and images on social media. “Marcos today calls for unity and sets himself up as the conductor of this great national gathering,” said Mr. Cornelio. And in doing so, while rewriting history, he ensures that no one talks about responsibility and accountability for his family. »
The Marcos are still in dispute with the Philippine state over the payment of taxes on the estate of the father, after the death of the dictator. The bill now stands at over 203 billion Philippine pesos (C$4.9 billion) but is still being ignored by the family, 25 years after a Supreme Court ruling dismissed all arguments of the Marcos to escape it.
another style
Far from the image of the strong man that his father was, BBM has cultivated above all since coming to power that of an affable, polite, calm and calm leader who contrasts with the style of Rodrigo Duterte, a vulgar and violent populist. . He is also the president of diplomacy, traveling the world to reaffirm alliances, with the European Union, Japan or the United States, but above all to restore the name of the Marcos by rubbing shoulders with the legitimacy of others. In early May, his visit to the White House was passionately covered by state media, as was his attendance at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III.
“Marcos was an absent governor during his tenure [dans la province du nord du pays, entre 1998 et 2007], says Karl Lenin Benigno, professor of political science at Northwestern University in Laoag in the north of the country. He is becoming an absentee president, more active abroad than on the local scene, which saves him for the moment from facing too much criticism. »
“After deceiving the population to get elected, he is trying to do the same with the rest of the world by still playing a lot with reality, with the true and the false, believes lawyer Therese Zsa Raval-Torres, who has was a member of Leni Robredo’s campaign team, which tried to avert a Marcos’ return to the Philippines by running against BBM in the 2022 presidential election. But like all illusions, the ones he sold will be very difficult to deliver and his relationship with the electorate, even if it is still in the honeymoon at the moment, risks becoming more and more problematic for him over time. »
In front of the tomb and the memorial, daily polished, of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos – whose body was repatriated in 2016 in Manila in an exercise of rehabilitation of the past by the ex-president Duterte -, Catherine, accompanied by her two aunts, Rosaria and Conchita, had little to say about the new president, preferring above all to be moved by the youthful photo of the former enthroned now near his new burial. “We are from his family, on his mother’s side [Josefa Edralin], said Rosaria, met at the beginning of the month in the Cemetery of heroes, where the memory of the dictator is now honored. He was handsome, wasn’t he? »
“BBM is not like him yet,” added Catherine, hiding a shy smile behind her mask, now worn sporadically across the country. But he still has several years ahead of him to get there. »
Tomorrow: incursion into the stronghold of the Marcos to shed light on the continuation of the presidency of the son of the ex-dictator.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.