Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr promised to invest heavily in infrastructure, mitigate the impact of climate change and “shed the last bead of sweat” for his countrymen as he took office as the Philippines’ 17th president.
Marcos, the country’s first president to be elected by a majority of the popular vote since his father Ferdinand Marcos, invoked the late dictator’s legacy and that of Rodrigo Duterte, the outgoing populist president, on Thursday.
“My father built more and better roads, produced more rice than all administrations before his,” said Marcos Jr, wearing a white barong, a traditional Filipino shirt. “President Rodrigo Roa Duterte built more and better than all administrations succeeding my father’s.”
Marcos is taking power at a time when the south-east Asian nation of 110mn is struggling to keep its economy on keel after the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic while balancing relations between the US, its traditional ally, and regional hegemon China.