Return of the scandal dynasty in the Philippines

The focus was on a social media campaign that critics of the newly elected president branded as targeted disinformation. The arduous attempt, which has been going on for decades, to force the family clan to surrender allegedly illegally procured assets is now threatening to come to an end.

According to local investigators, up to ten billion dollars are at stake, which the Marcos family is said to have appropriated during the reign of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. until his fall in 1986 – invested in works of art, extravagant jewelry, Swiss bank accounts and luxury properties in Manhattan.

The wife of the late ruler and mother of the new president, Imelda Marcos, became famous for leaving thousands of designer shoes in the presidential palace when the regime fled into exile in Hawaii following mass protests. Also on board: gold, jewels and 22 boxes filled with Philippine pesos with a total value of several million dollars, as US customs determined at the time.

Imelda Marcos was sentenced to several years in prison in 2018

The plundering of the country, whose per capita income is just over $3,000 a year, under his father did not harm Marcos Junior in the election campaign. He dismissed the allegations as “fake news” and claimed his family’s fortunes had been obtained lawfully – despite multiple rulings by the Philippine Supreme Court that found the family clan guilty of large-scale fraud.

Imelda Marcos, who worked in her husband’s regime as governor of Manila, was sentenced to several years in prison in a corruption trial in 2018. The appeal process for the now 92-year-old is currently underway.

In the Philippines, however, the political scandals have increasingly disappeared from the collective memory in recent years. The Marcos dynasty benefited from the country’s demographics: the median age is just under 26 years – the vast majority of the island nation of 110 million inhabitants was not yet born when the “People Power” revolution overthrew the Marcos regime after two decades who expelled power.

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Instead of having to explain the misconduct of his family clan, Marcos was able to establish the narrative of an alleged “golden era” that the Philippines had experienced during his father’s reign. He referred in particular to the massive expansion of public infrastructure at the time.

Marcos did not mention the debt crisis into which the country fell due to the enormous budget deficit, a severe recession and inflation rates of up to 50 percent. “The idea of ​​a golden age for the Philippine economy under the Marcos regime is a big fat lie,” said University of the Philippines economist Jan Carlo Punongbayan.

According to observers, Marcos has a clever social media strategy to thank for the fact that his point of view finally prevailed in public opinion. Instead of participating in TV debates, “Bongbong” Marcos – by which nickname he is known in the Philippines – reached out directly to his followers through platforms like Facebook, where he has more than six million followers. He has faced accusations of being responsible for a flood of targeted election misinformation on social media. He denied this.

Marcos Jr. wishes good relations with China

What they can now expect from their new president politically is probably still unclear to most voters. It is known that Marcos wants good relations with Beijing – and probably does not want the dispute over the South China Sea to boil up again.

The politician, who had held various offices since 1992 – shortly after the family returned from exile – was reluctant to make programmatic statements. He only promised to create “unity” in the country. To this end, he entered an alliance with the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara Duterte. She applied for the separately elected office of Vice President and was apparently also successful.

Marcos’ opponents fear that after the high election victory he will lead the country in an even more authoritarian manner than Duterte – who was internationally criticized for his brutal fight against drug crime and was not allowed to run again.

Economically, Marcos is taking over a country that is booming: the government expects a growth rate of seven to nine percent for the current year. However, the Philippines have experienced a deep slump as a result of the corona crisis. According to the analysis house Capital Economics, at the end of the year the gross domestic product will still be 13 percent below the level that the economy would probably have reached without the pandemic. In addition, rising prices are causing problems for the population. Marcos, on the other hand, promised government subsidies.

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Economics professor Cielo D. Magno expressed the fear that investors could shy away from a new Marcos government. “We need an administration that is committed to good governance and the rule of law,” she commented. But she only heard irresponsible promises from Marcos, which showed that he had no idea about the economy.

As President, Marcos is now also responsible for the authority responsible for recovering the funds stolen from the Marcos regime. This has secured five billion dollars over the past few decades. There are still legal proceedings for more than two billion dollars. It is extremely doubtful that the authority can now continue its work.

More: Why financial criminals have an easy time in the Philippines