I offended none of my rivals during campaign, says Bongbong Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — Newly sworn-in President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said that he did not offend any of his rivals during the campaign season.

Marcos Jr. made the remark in his inaugural speech Thursday as he took his oath as the 17th president of the country.

“By your vote, you rejected the politics of division. I offended none of my rivals in this campaign. I listened instead to what they were saying and I saw little incompatibility with my own ideas—about jobs, fair wages, personal safety, and national strength,” Marcos said.

Marcos Jr. also evoked one of the themes that he had repeatedly emphasized throughout his presidential campaign: unity.

“When my call for unity started to resonate with you, it did so because it echoed your yearnings, mirrored your sentiments, and expressed your hopes for family, for country and for a better future,” he said.

“That is why it reverberated and amplified as it did to deliver the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy,” he added.

Marcos took his oath at the National Museum in Manila, which was memorable to him, saying the structure used to be the Legislative building where they used to fetch their father, Marcos Sr. when the latter was still a senator.

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