Marcos Rising

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines as a dictator for 21 years. Many Filipinos still remember the violence and fear of that era. The police routinely rounded up anyone who might oppose the regime. Many of those arrested, including community activists and union members, were tortured. Some simply disappeared.

In 1976, Pacita Armada was 16 and living at her uncle’s house. One day authorities arrived to conduct a raid because her uncle belonged to a labor union. She remembers the police grabbing her by her hair and dragging her outside. Then they took her to the station with about a dozen other people.

“They forced me to say something about my uncle’s activities,” Armada, now 62, recalls. “I told them I knew nothing. They repeatedly hit me on the head. I cried and cried. They told me I would never be freed.”

She remained behind bars for four months. While she was in detention, her father died.

“I think he died because of me,” she says. “He was stressed out and suffered a heart attack and died.”

These kinds of experiences were common during the Marcos dictatorship, historians say. Amnesty International, a human rights group, says the Marcos regime detained 70,000 people, tortured 35,000, and killed more than 3,200. The Marcos family also looted as much as $10 billion from the government. The stolen money was used to pay for the family’s lavish lifestyle, while most Filipinos lived in desperate poverty.

In 1986, Filipinos banded together in a peaceful revolution and overthrew the dictatorship. The Marcos family fled. It seemed the Marcos era was over.

But last year, Marcos’s son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., won the presidential election in a landslide. His win came after the six-year term of President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte’s time in office was marked by a brutal war on drugs that killed more than 6,000 people. Because of the Marcos family’s history of corruption and oppression, many Filipinos worry about what his presidency will mean for the future of democracy in the Philippines.

“The Philippines is heading more and more toward an electoral autocracy,” says Aries Arugay, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

The nation consists of 110 million people spread across more than 7,000 islands. It doesn’t have a long history of democracy. For more than 300 years, the Philippines was a Spanish colony. It came under the control of the United States in 1898, as part of the settlement in the Spanish-American War. In the years that followed, the U.S. put down a Philippine independence movement. At times, the U.S. used violent tactics.

In late 1941, during World War II, Japan invaded the Philippines. Japanese forces eventually overcame Philippine and American defenses, taking thousands of troops prisoner. American General Douglas MacArthur narrowly escaped, declaring, “I shall return.” In October 1944, he returned to drive out the Japanese forces. During the occupation, the Japanese killed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. Many older Filipinos still see MacArthur as a hero. His landing on the island of Leyte is celebrated every year on the anniversary.

After the war, in 1946, the U.S. granted the Philippines independence. Since then, the two countries have kept close economic ties and a strong military alliance. They signed a mutual defense treaty in 1951 (see “The U.S. & the Philippines,” below).

But there have been strains. From 1965 to 1986, the U.S. supported the oppressive Marcos dictatorship. When mass protests finally ousted Marcos, his family fled the country aboard American military helicopters. That included his wife, Imelda, and then-28-year-old Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The U.S. gave the Marcoses refuge in Hawaii. According to U.S. customs records, they arrived with crates full of expensive jewelry, designer clothes, and millions of dollars in cash. Imelda Marcos left behind her collection of more than 1,200 pairs of designer shoes. It was found in the presidential palace after the family fled. The shoe collection became a symbol of the regime’s greed and extravagance.

The Marcoses’ departure allowed democracy to take hold in the Philippines. Corazon Aquino, the widow of an opposition leader who was killed, won the presidency in 1986. A new constitution took effect the following year.

Ferdinand Marcos Sr. died in Hawaii in 1989. By 1991, Marcos Jr. (who still goes by his childhood nickname, Bongbong) and his mother had returned to the Philippines. He began working to repair his family’s name and to chart his own rise to political power. He won key leadership roles at the state level before entering national politics as a senator in 2010.

Those efforts paid off last spring with Marcos’s victory in the presidential election. Marcos, 65, won the support of millions of voters. His supporters have become tired of their country’s brand of democracy and its failure to address the basic needs of its citizens. Poverty is widespread, inequality has widened, and corruption remains out of hand. The Philippines is also struggling to recover from the pandemic.

Since taking office in June, Marcos has been trying to jump-start the economy. The Philippines had one of the world’s strictest Covid lockdowns and closed its schools for more than two years—longer than any other nation. The government has reopened schools and is hoping the economy will blossom.

But Marcos has also rejected a request by the International Criminal Court to investigate his predecessor, Duterte, for possible crimes against humanity carried out as part of his government’s high-profile “war on drugs.”

The youth vote has played a large role in Marcos’s rise. A survey before the election showed that about 70 percent of Filipinos aged 18 to 24 supported him for president. The country’s textbooks devote little attention to the atrocities of the Marcos era. And despite several corruption and tax evasion cases against the family, many Filipinos consider the Marcoses something like royalty.

“I think he can solve everything,” says Chereen Nicole Rivera, a 21-year-old student who supports President Marcos. “The money stolen was not by him, but by his dad. He should not be judged by the sins of his dad.”

Since taking office in June, Marcos has been trying to jump-start the economy. The Philippines had one of the world’s strictest Covid lockdowns. The nation closed its schools for more than two years, which was longer than any other nation. The government has reopened schools and is hoping the economy will blossom.

But Marcos has also rejected a request by the International Criminal Court to investigate his predecessor, Duterte, for possible crimes against humanity carried out as part of his government’s high-profile “war on drugs.”

The youth vote has played a large role in Marcos’s rise. A survey before the election showed that about 70 percent of Filipinos aged 18 to 24 supported him for president. The country’s textbooks devote little attention to the horrors of the Marcos era. And despite several corruption and tax evasion cases against the family, many Filipinos think of the Marcoses as royalty.

“I think he can solve everything,” says Chereen Nicole Rivera, a 21-year-old student who supports President Marcos. “The money stolen was not by him, but by his dad. He should not be judged by the sins of his dad.”

Marcos has repeatedly said he won’t apologize for his father’s legacy. He has campaigned for years to recast the Marcos dictatorship as a golden era of development. He also has tried to position his father as a victim of political enemies. Fifty-six percent of the voting population in the Philippines is between the ages of 18 and 41. Most of them did not witness the crimes of the Marcos regime. Opponents say that has created the ideal conditions for the spread of disinformation.

It’s been effective. Nearly half the country now believes the Marcos family was unjustly forced to flee.

“They slowly rebuilt their power through a long-standing campaign of disinformation,” says Josh Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.

To burnish Marcos’s image, his campaign relied heavily on social media, showing Marcos reviewing viral TikTok dances and YouTube videos portraying him as a cool parent in game show segments with his family.

“The Philippines has one of the highest social media penetration rates of any country in the world,” Kurlantzick says. “It’s where most people get their information.”

But the Marcos name remains tarnished among many Filipinos. Some still see the family as a symbol of greed and excess and are sorry to see its return to power.

Mirus Ponon, a 20-year-old university student and civil rights activist in Manila, is one of those. He was heartbroken by Marcos’s decisive victory.

“They slowly rebuilt their power through a long-standing campaign of disinformation,” says Josh Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.

To polish Marcos’s image, his campaign relied heavily on social media. He was shown reviewing viral TikTok dances. YouTube videos portrayed him as a cool parent in game show segments with his family.

“The Philippines has one of the highest social media penetration rates of any country in the world,” Kurlantzick says. “It’s where most people get their information.”

But the Marcos name remains ruined among many Filipinos. Some still see the family as a symbol of greed and excess and are sorry to see its return to power.

Mirus Ponon, a 20-year-old university student and civil rights activist in Manila, is one of those. He was heartbroken by Marcos’s victory.

“You could see it coming from a standpoint of the structured propaganda and the machinery of the Marcoses,” he says. “But it’s something that makes you so depressed as someone who loves the country. You want to continue to fight, yet the country and its people fail you.”

But in a broader sense, some experts say just the fact that Ponon and millions of people like him took part in a Philippine election considered free and fair is a success.

“It’s important to remember that a huge number of people in the Philippines voted for Marcos,” says Elina Noor of the Asia Society in Washington, D.C. “Despite all the criticism about Filipino democracy, the process of democracy worked even if the outcome isn’t desirable in the eyes of many.”

With reporting by Jason Gutierrez and Sui-Lee Wee of The New York Times.

With reporting by Jason Gutierrez and Sui-Lee Wee of The New York Times.