Ferdinand Marcos Jr -- the late dictator’s son and namesake -- will become the next president of the Republic of the Philippines.
Unofficial results point to a landslide victory. This impending outcome has caused much consternation among a significant segment of the population for good reason.
Marcos Jr remains unapologetic about his family’s plunder of billions of dollars during their two-decade reign (1965 to 1986). He has been convicted of tax evasion and lied about his academic degree. Victims of his father’s brutal regime fear that he will revise history.
His colleagues are unimpressed with his performance when he served as governor, congressman, and senator. When he was senator, he was sued for plunder, and was implicated in corruption scandals.
Before judging the Filipino people for voting for a person with a reprehensible track record, let us set the record straight.
Those who voted for him love their country dearly. They wish for the country to stand proud alongside the great nations of the world.
They followed the election campaign closely and studied their choice carefully. They have accepted that the promises of the People Power Revolution (led by the late Corazon Aquino that ousted the dictatorship) had been broken and that a new path must be forged for the nation to move forward.
And, the route they selected was the one presented by Marcos Jr.
Marcos Jr had six years to prepare for his campaign. He established a well-funded campaign machinery which, as Rappler reported, included the remnants of the controversial Cambridge Analytica.
His re-branding is impeccable -- calm, collected, soft spoken, relatable and never negative. His central message of “unity” is palatable and easy to understand.
The other candidates’ messages of “good governance” and “healing presidency” needed more time to be explained clearly.
Among Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle, his campaign selected “pathos” -- the emotional approach resonating with most voters through the use of inspirational quotes and stories of a supposed “Golden Era in Philippine history.”
He sold the myth of a once great country (which happened during his father’s time) taken away by the People Power Revolution.
Marcos Jr did not join any presidential debate. The debates would have forced him to engage in “logos” -- facts, reasoning, argumentation, statistics, among others -- and display his ability -- or lack thereof -- to think on his feet.
This was evidenced by his debate performance when he ran for vice president in 2016 and was easily out-smarted and out-witted by the other candidates. So, no debate was best for him.
And to shield himself from his father’s wrongdoings, the message was: The sins of the father are not the sins of the son.
To smear his opponents, Marcos Jr utilized troll farms. The US Filipinos for Good Governance (USFGG) found around 100 trolls on Facebook identified to be supporting his presidential bid. Twitter removed more than 300 accounts linked to him for violating rules on spam and manipulation.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and University of Leeds explained how troll accounts and fake news producers operated in the Philippines.
The University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication denounced how the public was intentionally misled and deceived through disinformation during the election period.
Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Ressa warned that trolls can be effective in making lies become facts.
On top of all these, Marcos Jr had the backing of political dynasties. His running mate for vice president is Sara Duterte, daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.
Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo endorsed his candidacy in her home province of Pampanga. The son of former president Joseph Estrada ran as senator under his party’s banner.
By default, even without the direct endorsement of the outgoing president, Marcos Jr became the administration candidate.
Reports of government resources (such as buses and ambulances) being used for the campaign have been reported nationwide.
The majority of Commission on Elections (COMELEC) officials are Duterte-appointees and the majority of disqualification cases against Marcos Jr have been binned.
As politics is about survival, a lot of traditional politicians at the local level supported the campaign -- bringing in the crowds in rallies -- and videos of alleged vote buying have circulated over the Internet.
Marcos Jr will be the first majority president in decades. With this strong mandate and with the victory of his running mate and many of his senators, those who voted and those who did not vote for him know that he can easily fulfil his promise of a golden age for the country.
All Filipinos will be watching him closely as soon as he takes office. If he reneges on his promise, they will be frustrated once again.
Depending on the level of antagonism, who knows what will happen.
What the Filipinos did to the late dictator, they can also do to his son. Let us hope that this will not be the next chapter in Philippine history.
