Manila — Tens of millions of voters headed to the polls within the Philippines Monday, propelling the namesake and son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to an early lead in his bid to carry his household again to the highest of the nation's political hierarchy. Amnesty Worldwide estimates that through the elder Marcos' two-decade reign — about half of which the nation spent underneath Marial Legislation — some 70,000 individuals had been jailed, 34,000 tortured, and greater than 3,000 killed.
"What the Marcoses have completed is principally propagate another historical past of the Martial Legislation interval as a interval of peace, progress, and prosperity," Sheila Coronel, a veteran Philippine journalist and professor on the Columbia College of Journalism, informed CBS Information.
The Marcos household additionally amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth throughout that point.
"At the very least $3 billion-worth of belongings have been recovered, so it's a practical estimate," Ruben Carranza, a former commissioner of the Presidential Fee on Good Governance, the company tasked with discovering and reclaiming the stolen billions, informed CBS Information.
Regardless of that historical past, the dictator's son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who goes by his childhood nickname of "Bongbong," took a decisive early lead because the votes poured in Monday. The son largely evaded questions on his father's infamy — and his personal doable complicity in bilking the nation of its public wealth — all through the marketing campaign interval.
"I voted for Bongbong and his operating mate Sara Duterte," one voter in Manila informed CBS Information on Monday. "I believe we can have a very good future underneath them. They're very enlightened."
The historic election was marred by violence and malfunctioning vote counting machines. A video unfold rapidly on social media displaying an unidentified group of males within the Southern Philippines destroying machines and tearing ballots. At the very least 4 individuals had been killed in gun-related incidents in the identical province.
Throughout the nation, round 1,800 poll machines had been reported as both having faulty reminiscence playing cards, not studying ballots, or not printing vote confirmations, in accordance with the Fee on Elections. Voters had been left with two choices if the machine they had been utilizing failed: Both go away their ballots and belief that election officers would feed them right into a working machine later, or wait themselves for an additional probability to forged votes.
"We'll watch for the machines to get repaired. We cannot entrust our votes to another person," 21-year previous LIana Trajeco mentioned.
Present Vice President Leni Robredo, who's operating towards Marcos Jr. for the nation's highest workplace however was polling second forward of the vote, expressed concern over how the glitches might have an effect on the credibility of the elections.
"Tampering with the integrity of the elections might imply hassle. If there are individuals planning to do that, I hope they do not undergo with it," Robredo mentioned.
She urged her supporters to maintain an in depth watch on their votes. Robredo had gained appreciable floor within the polls since she first introduced her run in October, thanks largely to a military of volunteers who spent their very own money and time campaigning for her.
However regardless of the surge of help, Robredo was undoubtedly preventing an uphill battle as Filiponos headed to the polls on Monday.
However whereas Marcos Jr. appeared to have managed to whitewash his father's legacy to reclaim his household's identify, analysts say he is extra more likely to construct on present President Rodrigo Duterte's populist enchantment than fall again on his father's strict authoritarian methods.
One factor analysts do broadly agree on, nevertheless, is that one other Marcos presidency might imply that no matter stays of the household's ill-gotten wealth, will stay with the household.
"He is not going to instantly abolish the Presidential Fee on Good Authorities," predicted Carranza, the previous PCGG commissioner. "He may even attempt to use it as a canopy for clawing again ill-gotten wealth already recovered by the federal government."
In 1986, the Philippines ousted the primary Ferdinand Marcos after 21 years of authoritarian rule. His reign was dropped at an finish by a four-day peaceable mass-uprising. The world watched in amazement because the extremes of the dictator and his household's opulent life-style had been revealed.
"Within the Nineteen Eighties, as kids had been dying of starvation, Marcos decides to present 4 buildings to his spouse Imelda in New York," mentioned Carranza, of the Presidential Fee on Good Governance.
The financial system went into recession throughout Marcos' closing years. Overseas debt ballooned to greater than $26 billion from lower than $1 billion in 1965 when he first took workplace.
For years, the Marcos household's huge theft was thought of established reality. However Bongbong managed to persuade an enormous proportion of his nation both that he was no a part of his father's misdeeds, or that they by no means occurred.
Analysts say Sara Duterte, the daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte and the mayor of Davao Metropolis, helped shore up help for Marcos Jr. by becoming a member of him on the ticket as his choose for vice chairman.
Marcos Jr.'s critics sought to focus on his lack of any political track-record or detailed platform forward of the vote, however he appeared to trip a wave of nostalgia that has swept throughout the Philippine voters. A disillusioned phase of society appears to be like again on the Marcos years as a golden period for the nation.
"My mom would all the time be aware of the time, as a result of there was a curfew," Geraldine Co, who was born through the Martial Legislation years, informed CBS Information. "I bear in mind how disciplined individuals had been."