Based on foreign media news, in the early morning of the 10th local time, preliminary statistical results of the Philippine general election showed that Marcos Jr., the son of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos , won the election.
Marcos Jr.
Ferdinand Marcos , also known as Marcos Jr. and nicknamed "Bang Bang", was born in 1957. is the son of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.. As a member of a well-known political family in the Philippines, Marcos Jr. has been deeply involved in controversy since the beginning of his candidacy due to his family's past corruption and suppression of dissidents. Being able to be finally elected president under such circumstances can be said to be due to his personal ability and the influence of his family. So what exactly did the Marcos family do in the past that led to such polarized evaluations today?
1. Philippine Clan Politics
Before talking about the Marcos family, let’s take a look at the modern history of the Philippines.
html In 11521, Magellan led a Spanish expedition to arrive here during the geographical discovery first voyage around the world. Magellan was also hacked to death by the indigenous people here. In 1542, the Spanish named the islands "Las Filipinas" after Prince Philip (later Philip II), which became the origin of the name "Philippines".
More than three hundred years have passed since the Spanish colonial occupation of the Philippines
. In 1898, Andre Bonny Fashow, known as the "Father of the Philippine Revolution", launched an uprising with the support of the United States and declared independence. In the same year, the Spanish-American War broke out. On December 10, Spain was defeated by the United States, and the "Paris Peace Treaty" was signed. The U.S. government gave Spain 0 million US dollars purchased the Philippines sovereignty , and the period of American rule in the Philippines began. The Philippines became a colony of the United States and a military base for the United States supply in the Asia-Pacific.
During World War II, December 8, 1941, the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, it sent troops to capture the Philippines. From 1942 to 1945, the Philippines was occupied by Japan.
Philippine Map
After the end of World War II, with the rise of global anti-colonial activities, On July 4, 1946, The Republic of the Philippines (Third Republic) was completely independent except for retaining the military base of the US military in the Philippines. Because the United States considers its own interests , although the Philippines is the first Asian country to introduce a democratic system and has always been called the "showcase of democracy" in Asia by the West, its internal political development history is basically dominated by major political families. Monopoly is quite similar to the gentry system of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It is basically clan politics wrapped in a layer of American democracy.
The Philippine media once conducted a genealogical political history study to sort out the intricate family connections and found that at least 12 of the 14 presidents of the Philippines are related to each other. Most of the representatives in the Philippine Congress come from 134 families, and names such as Aquino, Garcia, Ramos, and Lopez appear repeatedly on the list of Congress members.
Aquino III, who was born into a political family, served as president from 2010 to 2016.
2. History of the Marcos family
It was in the environment of clan politics mentioned above that Marcos Sr. later rose to the throne of the presidency. Being born is destined to be extraordinary, and that is indeed the case.
Marcos Although he came from a political family, Ferdinand Marcos's life was not easy when he was a child. Because politics is really money-consuming, his father Mariano Marcos did not hesitate to enter politics at all costs. He spent all the family's money to buy votes. As a result, his son often missed classes when he was in school because he could not afford the tuition.
Ferdinand Marcos
And it is said that Ferdinand Marcos’ biological father was not Marcos Sr., but a Chinese named Ferdinand Cai. He fell in love with Marcos’ mother Josefa in the Philippines, and Josefa also Pregnant. But Cai's parents are very traditional and require Cai to marry a Fujian wife. The Cai family had no choice but to find Mariano, a classmate of Josefa, who was the successor. It is conceivable that the Cai family must have paid a price that satisfied Mariano.
After giving birth to his son, Josefa named him Ferdinand . On the one hand, he wanted to imitate Magellan (also Ferdinand) and King of Spain. , and most importantly, the name of the young master of the Cai family happened to be Ferdinand. And this Cai is also Marcos’ godfather.
Marcos had excellent academic performance since he was a child. He was very active when he was studying in the law department of the University of the Philippines. Not only was he a debate champion, he was also good at swimming, boxing and wrestling. and practiced good marksmanship, and this specialty also caused him trouble in the future.
While in college, he was suspected of being involved in the assassination of by a member of the House of Representatives who was hostile to his father. The court wanted to sentence him to 24 years in prison on the premise that he was both good in character and academics and a promising talent. He was immediately arrested and imprisoned. . However, he was subsequently pardoned by President Manuel Quezon , but Marcos did not accept it and insisted on appealing and preparing for the judicial examination while in prison. The next year, the Supreme Court reversed the verdict and Marcos was released from prison. Soon after Marcos graduated from university, he took the judicial examination and passed the examination with first place. During World War II, Marcos joined the Philippine Autonomous Army and was engaged in guerrilla activities against the Japanese army; he also narrowly escaped during the Bataan Death March. relied on his good marksmanship that he practiced hard in college, and once became the leader of the Anti-Japanese War in the Philippines. After the war, the Philippines officially became independent. He became the most decorated soldier in the history of the Philippines, winning 32 medals, and was also known as the "Anti-Japanese War" hero".
Marcos’s combat experience became the basis for his future political career.
From Presidential Secretary in 1946, to being elected to the House of Representatives in 1949, to Marcos becoming Senate President in 1962, and to being elected President in 1965, Marcos’s promotion speed was so fast that even a rocket could not keep up with it, and in 1954, he also Married to that year's Philippine beauty pageant champion - Imelda , she was in the limelight for a while, and she was successful in both love and career.
Marcos and Imelda
But this president came to power because he advocated economic and social reforms. During his presidential term, he implemented crony capitalism and authoritarianism rule that was suppressed by politics. The world-famous eventually led to its downfall.
3. Mr. 10%
Since his days as a congressman, Marcos has been nicknamed "Mr. 10%", which means that 10% of all projects handled by Marcos must be reserved for himself. After becoming president, "10%" gradually became public and institutionalized, so that any undertaking, investment, business, or even financial expenditure in the Philippines must give 10% to the president, otherwise it will not be possible.
During the 20-year presidential career of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, the Marcos family relied on position power to kidnap the national economy and gain huge wealth . Before becoming president, Marcos only owned $30,000 in property. By the time of his collapse in 1986, his wealth was estimated to be no less than tens of billions of dollars. He has mansions in the Philippines, Hong Kong and other places. In the Philippines alone, he owns 4,500 acres of real estate and 5,000 acres of land. He has put US$10 billion, equivalent to the Philippines' three-year fiscal revenue, into his own pocket, and his deposits are spread all over the world. All major banks. Whether it was the country's gold reserves or the aid to the Philippines from the United States and Japan, Marcos would find ways to put it into his pocket.
In order to extend the term of the president, Marcos even adopted military control, election fraud and other harsh methods.In 1983, his political rival Benigno Aquino was assassinated at Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport) after returning from the United States. Marcos was suspected of being the instigator. In 1986, election fraud led to large-scale protests, and he was forced into exile in Hawaii, the United States with the help of the US military. When the angry crowd rushed into the presidential palace and Imelda's basement was shown to the Filipino public following the camera lens, people learned about the extravagant and extravagant life of the presidential wife.
In Imelda’s basement, there are: 2,500 tops, 3,500 pairs of pants, 500 underwear, 65 parasols, 2,000 pairs of gloves, 71 pairs of glasses, 1,500 small handbags, 5 large suitcases, and famous brands 3,000 pairs of shoes. and that's just what Imelda picked out. When Marcos and his party arrived in Hawaii, U.S. Customs seized 300 boxes of their luggage, which included Philippine pesos worth US$1.2 million, 67 boxes of clothing, various jewelry worth US$10 million, countless works of art, and Various land deeds, depositary notes and stock certificates of deposit.
Imelda and her collection
During his exile in the United States, Marcos applied to return to the country many times, but was unable to do so due to rejection by the Philippine government. Marcos died of illness there three years later.
4. Ending
After the death of Marcos, Marcos Jr. returned to the Philippines from exile in 1991 and began to engage in politics, and Imelda also returned to the country with him. After returning to China, Imelda transformed into a "generous" philanthropist. Relying on Imelda's donations to a large number of people at the bottom, Marcos' reputation continued to improve, and Marcos gradually gained a firm foothold. He gradually approached the core of power in the Philippines and eventually won the presidential election.
Some readers may ask after reading this, are the people of the Philippines stupid? After only 30 years, they support the son of a "giantly corrupt" president who once exploited them. But the reality is cruel. Because the lives of the people at the bottom of the Philippines are so miserable, they have no energy to think about the affairs of those in power. The most important thing is to have a full stomach.
Manila slums
According to statistics, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, 35% of the poor live in slums, 2/3 of whom are children. "Villas for the dead, slums for the living." This sentence is often used to comment on the gap between the rich and the poor in Manila. These poor people hang out in the garbage dumps all day long, not to collect waste, but to pick up some for the rich to eat. There is a special industry chain that cleans the leftover food and repackages it for sale. This kind of food is called "pagpag" by the locals.
The popularity of children holding "pagpag"
"pagpag" has led to the epidemic of hepatitis, cholera and other infectious diseases in slums. In such a harsh environment, people's life span is very short, and most people cannot grow old slowly. Many children grow up surrounded by dead people, eating leftovers, and in garbage dumps. Living to adulthood is a luxury for many children in slums.
At the end of the article, I hope that the newly elected President Marcos will live up to the expectations of the voters, do more practical things for the people at the bottom, seriously solve the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor, and better benefit the people.
The pictures in the article come from the Internet
