Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr kicks off campaign

(8 Feb 2022) Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of a Philippine dictator who was overthrown in the 1980s, launched his presidential campaign in Manila on Tuesday.
Campaigning in the Philippines' presidential election started with a cast of candidates led by Marcos Jr. and the pro-democracy current vice president, with all vowing to bail out a country driven deeper into poverty by the pandemic and plagued by gaping inequalities and decades-long insurgencies.
The official three-month election campaign for national posts, including the president and separately elected vice president and half of the 24-seat Senate, opened under tough anti-virus restrictions including a ban on handshakes, kissing, hugging and tightly packed crowds aimed at dampening the carnival-like rallies that have been the hallmark of Philippine elections.
Social media has become a key battleground in the May 9 elections given the restrictions with many fearing disinformation could worsen in an intense race.
The presidential aspirants waved from convoys festooned with huge portraits of themselves to thousands of cheering followers.
The daylong campaigning ended with night rallies including speeches, music and dance.
Robredo narrowly defeated Marcos Jr. in the 2016 vice presidential race but is trailing far behind him in recent polls for the presidential race, despite human rights atrocities and corruption during his father's rule that he has described as "lies."
Marcos died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he, his family and cronies amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while he was in power.
A Hawaii court later found him liable for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

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