MANILA, Philippines — After a practically smooth sailing in Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was proclaimed Wednesday as the 17th president of the Republic of the Philippines.
Marcos was proclaimed at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City after NBOC concluded its canvassing of votes for the presidential and vice presidential race, with the camp of his political rival Vice President Leni Robredo posing no objections to all certificates of canvass counted in his favor.
The president-elect ran for vice president in 2016 but lost to Robredo. He protested the results before the Supreme Court but the high court eventually junked his petition.
READ: TIMELINE: The 4-year Robredo-Marcos poll case
Marcos, son of the former strongman and namesake, was a one-term senator from 2010-2016 before throwing his hat in the vice-presidential contest in the May 2016 polls.
His first crack at politics was when he became Ilocos Norte’s vice-governor at the age of 23 in 1980 while his father ruled the country under martial law.
Marcos then became governor from 1983 until his father’s dictatorship was toppled through a bloodless revolution and the Marcos family was forced to leave the Philippines to go on exile in Hawaii in 1986.
READ: Marcos’ martial law: Golden age for corruption, abuses
FILE PHOTO: Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during a campaign sortie in Mandaluyong City. (Photo from his Facebook account)official facebook account
When they returned in 1992, he won as representative of Ilocos Norte’s second district. From 1998-2007, he served as governor of Ilocos Norte for three consecutive terms.
He returned to Congress in 2007 before he ran and won a seat in the Senate in 2010.
Riding on his theme of unity, his campaign centered on unifying almost all the political bigwigs in the country that paved the way for his return to Malacañang that had served as his home during the 20-year regime of his father.
Marcos’ running mate for the 2022 national elections, Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, also won the vice presidential race.
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