The upcoming election in the Philippines presents the country with a stark choice to set its political course for the next six years. Outgoing authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte leaves behind a country much damaged by his time in office.
Economic decline, a brutal “war on drugs” – for which he faces an International Criminal Court investigation – and bad management of COVID have set a low bar for his successor.
This is all handy for the frontrunner for the May 9 poll – Bongbong Marcos, the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos (1965-86). Bongbong leads the polls by a considerable margin and has done so for months. This is despite a rather contemptuous attitude towards the electorate in his campaign. He has avoided interviews, not shown up to debates with other candidates and even avoided contact with the public after a bizarre incident claiming an injury but having the wrong wrist bandaged.
