TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Will the Marcos-Duterte duo survive?
A major challenge would be how Marcos Jr can build a working relationship with his deputy Sara Duterte, who has already openly expressed her desire to run for president in the future.
Change Size
Every vote counts: A screen shows partial Philippine election results for then-presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
D
ynastic politics is perhaps a dominant trait in the Asia Pacific region. This part of the world, in general, has a very fertile ground for political dynasties to flourish -- Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and plenty of other countries in the region have similar trends with regard to family dynasties.
But not one of these countries can match the Philippines’ obsession with dynastic politics. The political history of the Philippines is inundated with a very long list of politicians belonging to the same bloodlines. Despite strict constitutional restraints against dynastic politics, more than 250 political families have been dominating power across the country.
The Congress -- long controlled by members of powerful and influential clans targeted by the constitutional ban -- has not yet validated the legislation needed to define and enforce the provision. With the arrival of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte as the new president and vice president, having achieved more than 31 million and 32 million out of 55 million casted votes respectively, the Filipinos have expressed their strong trust in the two most-powerful political families.
For Sara Duterte, courtesy her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who despite leading a brutal and controversial anti-drugs campaign, is still extremely popular in the country, it was relatively much easier to attract so many votes in her favor.
But for Marcos Jr., the namesake son of an ousted dictator, it was one of the greatest political comebacks in recent history. In 1986, when an army-backed “People Power” rebellion forced his father to relinquish power and leave the country with his family, nobody could have imagined that one day the Marcos family would be able to regain power – much less with a landslide victory.
Not only has the Philippines gone “back to the future” with the arrival of Marcos Jr. at the helm of affairs, but it has also reinforced the already much-entrenched dynastic politics.
However, Marcos Jr. was allowed to return to the country in 1991, along with his siblings and mother, Imelda, and since then, he has been working very carefully to carve a political career out of the debris of his father’s global infamy amid massive corruption charges. In his long political career, he has held various positions -- governor, congressman and senator -- that culminated in the presidency on June 30.
