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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine Congress officially declares Marcos new president |
| 2022-05-30 |
| [BenarNews] The Philippine Congress on Wednesday officially declared Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte-Carpio winners of the May 9 presidential and vice-presidential polls, saying the running mates each garnered about 60 percent of ballots cast in landslide victories. The declaration was a crowning moment for Marcos, the son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator, as he sealed his quest to follow in his footsteps as president, despite the long and dark shadow of his father’s brutal rule. It also guaranteed that a Duterte would have a top position in the incoming administration as President Rodrigo Duterte exits office at the end of June. This year’s proclamation of electoral results — the fastest in the country’s history — came after the House of Representatives and Senate convened as a canvassing body a day earlier. Congress noted that lawyers for top opposition candidate Leni Robredo, who received less than half of the votes for Marcos, did not pose any objection. "We did not sacrifice transparency and authenticity of the results for a speedy count," said Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who chaired the process, adding that Marcos garnered close to 59 percent of the total presidential votes cast, while Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of the incumbent president, took in 61.5 percent of votes for VP. Marcos’s inauguration is set for June 30, under the Philippine Constitution, and his first work day will be July 1. FAMILY PRESENT Among those attending the announcement on Wednesday were Marcos’s family, including his mother, Imelda. The aging matriarch of the political clan remains a polarizing figure in the Philippines, 36 years after a peaceful people-power revolt removed her dictator husband, Ferdinand E. Marcos, from office. Marcos Jr.’s sister, Imee Marcos, a senator, said the family was grateful to the Philippine people for giving them a chance to revive the Marcos name. Imee Marcos said the family had been unduly judged through the years after her father went into exile in Hawaii in 1986, where he died three years later. The elder Marcos had ruled the nation for more than two decades and had declared martial law in 1972. Following his death, Imelda Marcos and their three children were allowed to return home and were never barred from running for public office. In 2016, the family supported Rodrigo Duterte’s successful presidential campaign, the same year Marcos lost the vice presidential race to Robredo. One of Duterte’s first official acts as president was to transfer the remains of the Marcos patriarch to the National Heroes’ Cemetery in Manila. "Yes we’re very, very grateful for a second chance as it were, because we have gone through so much. They have filed many cases against us, on top of their criticism and oppression. Our family really suffered for the past almost four decades," Imee Marcos told news hounds. "So I thank everyone who trusted us, to our loyalists, the Ilocanos and to those who believed that the country really needs strong leadership," she said, referring to the people of the Ilocos region, the family’s northern bailiwick. |
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