Bunch of despots
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Bongbong Marcos, son of the former dictator in power for twenty years, is a favorite in Monday’s election to succeed “vigilante” Rodrigo Duterte. A reconquest against a backdrop of denial of the crimes committed by the family, revisionism and corruption.
The election has not yet taken place, but the victory is already here. On Monday, the Filipinos could send Ferdinand Marcos Junior to the Malacañan Presidential Palace in Manila. Nicknamed “Bongbong” (or “BBM”), he is the son of the late dictator, thief and first class corrupter, who embezzled nearly 10 billion dollars (9.5 billion euros), and autocrat at first hand , who arrested, tortured and killed thousands of people during the twenty years of his reign, between 1965 and 1986. Before being ousted from power and dying in exile in Hawaii.
Supreme and fatal irony, as the country prepares this year to commemorate the sad establishment of martial law decreed by the authoritarian Ferdinand Marcos fifty years ago, the one who presents himself as his most faithful and loyal heir is on the way to be elected president. He could succeed “Sheriff” Rodrigo Duterte whose very dirty war on drugs has claimed at least 20,000 lives. Once an outcast, the Marcos are therefore on the threshold of presidential power. And this probability of a return in the form of a reconquest is in itself a political consecration.
BBM is the poll favorite, although polls have been few and a surprise is possible on Monday. Far from starting an inventory duty on the dark years of the father, the son is campaigning on the brand, the number…