The strange return of the Philippines’ brutal Marcos dynasty

For Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, the frontrunner for Monday’s Philippine presidential election, a reframing of the country’s past has been crucial to securing his future. Last week, he reminded a television audience what a ‘political genius’ his late father, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr, was. Bongbong’s revisionist history has infuriated many Filipinos but, it seems, resonated with many more. Polls show that he has a 30-point lead over his closest rival, the current vice-president Leni Robredo, though she has drawn massive crowds and expects a late surge of support.

Thirty-six years ago, after the ‘people power’ revolution ended, Marcos Sr’s dictatorship and sent the family fleeing to Hawaii, it seemed inconceivable that the Marcoses would ever return to the Philippines – more so as details emerged of the eye-watering fortune the ex-president and his wife Imelda had amassed. But two years after his death in 1989, the family was allowed back, ostensibly to face corruption charges. And so began the remarkable political resurgence of Ferdinand and Imelda’s only son.

When Marcos Sr was elected in 1965, the country had a dynamic economy. But corruption became endemic and martial law was imposed. Under Marcos’s 21-year rule, it is believed that more than 3,000 political enemies, activists and journalists were killed and thousands more tortured or jailed.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, set up in 1986 by the subsequent administration, also estimates that the Marcoses accumulated $5-10 billion in personal wealth while the country ran up massive debts in an infrastructure splurge and the funding of Imelda’s many vanity projects – including the Coconut Palace she built for the 1981 visit of Pope John Paul II (he refused to stay in it) and a resort hotel constructed for her daughter Irene’s wedding.