A dictator’s son, an actor-turned-mayor and a champion boxer: An eclectic mix of personalities has declared that they would compete to become the Philippines’ next president.
More than 60 million Filipinos are eligible to go to the polls to decide who should replace President Rodrigo Duterte, who is nearing the end of his six-year term limit.
“Some call it a circus, I actually call it a fiesta,” Ateneo de Manila University School of Government dean Tony La Vina said. “It’s going to be very interesting, with lots of twists and turns.”
Illustration: Constance Chou
The election in May next year comes at a crucial time for the Philippines, which has faced one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Southeast Asia and has distributed enough vaccine doses to fully protect less than one-quarter of the population. The prolonged outbreak and punishing lockdown restrictions have battered the economy.
For Duterte, too, the stakes are especially high. Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it was investigating his so-called “war on drugs,” in which as many as 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed. A sympathetic successor could adopt his stance of not cooperating with the court.
According to polling by Pulse Asia, his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, is the frontrunner for the top job. Yet she has denied that she would join the race and has missed the deadline to file a candidacy — unless she chooses to become a last-minute substitute, as her father did in 2016.
It is expected to be a tight race. Almost neck-and-neck for second place are former Philippine senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, namesake and son of the late dictator; Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno, a former actor; and boxing champion and Philippine Senator Manny Pacquiao.
Behind them are Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo, an outspoken critic of Rodrigo Duterte, and Philippine Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former police chief.
“It’s anybody’s game,” said Carmel V. Abao, an assistant professor in Ateneo de Manila University’s political science department.
The vote is likely to be referendum on the kind of governance the Philippine public wants after almost six years of Rodrigo Duterte in power, she said.
THE BOXER
Manny Pacquiao is a champion boxer and national icon, with a rags-to-riches story that resonates with many. He grew up in Mindanao, one of the poorest areas of the country — and also Rodrigo Duterte’s stronghold.
He left aged 14 as a stowaway on a boat bound for Manila and worked in construction jobs, sending money home, before he was spotted as a talented fighter.
Pacquiao began his political career in 2010, becoming a member of the Philippine House of Representatives and, despite a poor attendance record, a senator in 2016.
An evangelical Christian, he has said that he opposes divorce, abortion and same-sex marriage, and was widely criticized for saying that people in same-sex relationships “are worse than animals.”
In the past, Pacquiao has fervently defended Rodrigo Duterte, even claiming that the president was anointed by God.
He supported Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, despite admitting using drugs himself as a teenager. He also helped remove Philippine Senator Leila De Lima from her position as chair of the Philippine Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee. De Lima is a critic of Rodrigo Duterte and was investigating killings related to anti-drugs operations. She has been imprisoned on drugs charges, which she says are politically motivated.
However, relations between Pacquiao and Rodrigo Duterte have since soured. Pacquiao has lashed out at the president over a recent corruption scandal and accused him of not being tough on China.
He has also said that he would not block the ICC’s investigation into the war on drugs.
It is not clear whether Pacquiao’s status as a boxing champion would translate into enough votes to win the top job. However, he is expected to weaken Rodrigo Duterte’s loyal base in Mindanao.
THE DICTATOR’S SON
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, also known as Bongbong Marcos, is the namesake and only son of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled until 1986 and plundered as much as US$10 billion from the state coffers. Under martial law, which was imposed by Marcos in 1972, about 34,000 people were tortured, 3,240 people were killed and 70,000 were imprisoned, Amnesty International estimates.
Bongbong Marcos has downplayed the abuses committed under his father.
He studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, but reportedly did not complete the course. He was instead awarded a special diploma in social studies, Philippine media site Rappler reported.
At the age of 23, he was elected unopposed as the vice governor of Ilocos Norte. The family was forced into exile after a peaceful popular revolution in 1986.
Since returning to the country, the family has sought to re-establish its presence in public life, and Bongbong Marcos has since been elected Ilocos Norte governor, and served terms in the House of Representatives and Senate. In 2016, he ran for vice president, but lost to Robredo.
The Marcos family remains incredibly powerful, and he has formidable resources at his disposal. He has built a large social media presence that allows him to target younger voters who have no memory of his father’s rule.
Bongbong Marcos is an ally of Rodrigo Duterte, who controversially allowed his father a hero’s burial.
Bongbong Marcos has said that under his leadership, the Philippines would act as a non-signatory of the ICC. Members of the court could visit as tourists, he said.
THE VICE PRESIDENT
Leni Robredo is a staunch critic of Rodrigo Duterte — including his war on drugs, which she described as leading to “senseless killings.”
The daughter of a judge and an English professor, Robredo previously worked for non-governmental organizations providing legal assistance to marginalized groups.
It was the death of her husband — former Philippine secretary of the interior and local government Jesse Robredo, who was killed in a plane crash in 2012 — that prompted a change in career.
His death provoked an outpouring of grief and calls for her to enter politics, and she went on to win a seat in the House in 2013. Three years later, she beat Bongbong Marcos to become vice president. She was elected separately from Rodrigo Duterte, and the two have had an icy relationship.
She has been an outspoken critic of Rodrigo Duterte’s policies — including the war on drugs, his pro-China stance and, mostly recently, his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also warned of the risks of populist leaders and condemned the legal charges against Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa.
She has provoked the ire of Rodrigo Duterte and his supporters, and was removed from her position as head of an anti-drugs taskforce just weeks after her appointment.
Leni Robredo has presented herself as the real opposition candidate, and is hoping to capitalize on what analysts have described as growing frustration with the pandemic and economy.
THE FORMER ACTOR
Isko Moreno, too, grew up in poverty. As a child living in Tondo, one of Manila’s poorest areas, he said he helped his mother by collecting old newspapers and bottles to sell to a garbage dealer, and would search for leftover food at restaurants.
He was talent spotted aged 18 and went on to forge a career in TV and film, adopting the screen name Isko Moreno. His real name is Francisco Domagoso.
Rodrigo Duterte has recently sought to mock him over his past career, likening him to “a call boy” for having posed for racy photographs.
Moreno began his political career as a councilor in Manila in his early 20s, rising to become vice mayor and, in 2019, mayor of the capital. He is known for launching a cleanup campaign in Manila — a policy that involved removing illegal street vendors.
He has criticized Rodrigo Duterte’s response to COVID-19, including the country’s harsh and drawn-out lockdowns.
He has also said he would not stop the ICC from investigating Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
Moreno has presented himself as a “healing” candidate in an attempt to draw support from all sides of the Philippines’ polarized politics.
However, critics have accused him of fence sitting.
THE DAUGHTER
Sara Duterte has said she would not run for president, despite polling by Pulse Asia that suggests that she is the frontrunner. Some have speculated that she might enter the race as a substitution and that Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa — the main enforcer of Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, who has filed his candidacy — could be serving as a placeholder.
The younger Duterte’s supporters have claimed that she is a better version of her father.
She is more organized and less impulsive, they say.
She shares the same pugnacious style and once punched a sheriff four times in the head because he disobeyed her orders.
However, her rhetoric is not quite as incendiary as that of her father, who has repeatedly endorsed extrajudicial killings.
She has registered her candidacy to be re-elected as mayor of Davao City. The ICC investigation would investigate killings that occurred in Davao between November 2011 and June 30, 2016 — a period that covers her previous stint as mayor.
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