Bongbong Marcos

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (UK: /ˈmɑːrkɒs/, US: /-koʊs, -kɔːs/, Tagalog: [ˈmaɾkɔs]; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials PBBM or BBM, is a Filipino politician who is the 17th and current president of the Philippines. He previously served as a senator from 2010 to 2016. He is the second child and only son of tenth president, kleptocrat and dictator Ferdinand Marcos and former first lady Imelda Marcos.

In 1980, Marcos became Vice Governor of Ilocos Norte, running unopposed with the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party of his father, who was ruling the Philippines under martial law at the time. He then became Governor of Ilocos Norte in 1983, holding that office until his family was ousted from power by the People Power Revolution and fled into exile in Hawaii in February 1986. After the death of his father in 1989, President Corazon Aquino eventually allowed his family to return to the Philippines to face various charges. Marcos and his mother, Imelda, are currently facing arrest in the United States for defying a court order to pay US$353 million (₱17,385,250,000 in 2024) in restitution to human rights abuse victims during his father's dictatorship.

Marcos was elected as Representative of Ilocos Norte's 2nd congressional district from 1992 to 1995. He was elected Governor of Ilocos Norte again in 1998. After nine years, he returned to his previous position as Representative from 2007 to 2010, then became senator under the Nacionalista Party from 2010 to 2016. Marcos unsuccessfully ran for vice president in the 2016 election, losing to Camarines Sur representative Leni Robredo by a difference of 263,473 votes; in response, Marcos filed an electoral protest at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal but his petition was unanimously dismissed after the pilot recount resulted in Robredo widening her lead by 15,093 additional votes.

Marcos ran for President of the Philippines in the 2022 election under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, which he won by a landslide with nearly 59% of the vote. His win was the largest since 1981, when his father won 88% of the votes due to a boycott by the opposition who protested the prior election.

Marcos's presidential campaign received criticism from fact-checkers and disinformation scholars, who found his campaign to be driven by historical negationism aimed at revamping the Marcos brand and smearing his rivals. His campaign has also been accused of whitewashing the human rights abuses and plunder, estimated at 5 to 13 billion dollars, that took place during his father's presidency. The Washington Post has noted how the historical distortionism of the Marcoses has been underway since the 2000s, while The New York Times cited his convictions of tax fraud, including his refusal to pay his family's estate taxes, and misrepresentation of his education at the University of Oxford. In 2024, Time magazine listed him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.