The prospects for the Philippines under newly elected president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos have as much to do with a murky past as they do with modern challenges. Electing the son of a former dictator may make no sense to many on the outside, or to the many liberals inside the country who are now doing some deep reflection. But further cold hard truths lie ahead for the Philippines.
The crimes of members of the Marcos clan’s own very recent past still haven’t been fully accounted for. Ferdinand Marcos Snr fled the country following years of a dictatorship that plundered an estimated US$10 billion (£8 billion) of public funds.
There is also a question mark over the Marcos family’s unsettled estate tax liabilities. A 1997 decision of the supreme court had ordered the Marcoses to pay 23 billion pesos (£350 million) in estate tax. Asked about the issue in the run-up to the election, Marcos Jnr dismissed this issue as “fake news”. “Let’s leave it to the lawyers to discuss it.”
