[ad_1]
Ferdinand Marcos Jr has served as provincial governor, congressman and senator, and unsuccessfully ran for vice-president in 2016.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late Filipino dictator, has announced that he will run in next year’s presidential elections, entering an already crowded race and upsetting an expected alliance with the ruling party’s candidate.
Marcos, who lost his candidacy for vice president in 2016, said in a statement Tuesday that he “will bring this form of unifying leadership back to our country”, without remembering his father’s divisive legacy.
The 64-year-old also proposed his candidacy as a response to the “crisis” following the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said is “one of the biggest tests” in the country’s history.
“The global pandemic has razed our country, destroying the lives of individuals, families, entire communities,” he said.
There have been more than 2.6 million cases of coronavirus in the Philippines, including some 38,000 deaths.
Popularly known as “Bongbong”, Marcos had been presented as a potential candidate for president or vice-president, having been involved in politics since returning from exile in 1991 following the overthrow of his father in 1986. He was previously provincial governor. , congressman and senator.
Since losing the 2016 race, a loss he challenged in court, Marcos has maintained a prominent social media presence, drawing more than three million followers to his Facebook page alone.
“Join me in this noblest of causes and we will be successful. Together, we will rise again, ”he said.
Ahead of his announcement on Tuesday, there had been speculation he would run on a unified list with the candidate backed by his ally, incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte.
He is the fourth candidate to officially announce his candidacy for the presidency.
Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso signed up on Monday, following newly retired boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former police chief, also intends to enter the competition to replace Duterte, who is not allowed to run for a second term under the constitution, and has decided to withdraw from politics.
Marcos’ race for the highest office would be a big step in a country where many are still recovering from the 1970s rule martial era of elder Marcos.
His family, one of the most famous in the Philippines, has long sought to rebuild his image and has repeatedly denied allegations of human rights abuses and the looting of billions of dollars in state wealth when he was in power, which ended with a popular power uprising in 1986..
His sister Imee is a senator and his mother Imelda, a former congressman who also ran for president in 1992. Her son, Ferdinand Alexander, is also running for a seat in Congress.
In a statement released Tuesday after the announcement, human rights group Karapatan said Marcos “spits on the graves of the dead and on the faces of the victims of the Marcos dictatorship.”
“No trace of remorse, nor any valid compensation has been given by the Marcos family for the billions of treasures and gold that they have looted from the Philippine economy,” the group added.
[ad_2]
Source link