Marcos redux? Dictator’s son may win Philippine presidency

By DAVID RISING and JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The presidential campaign of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is resonating in the Philippines. The son of the late dictator and his running mate, who is the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, are leading pre-election surveys despite his family’s history. Their carefully choreographed appearances whitewash the past and are short on specifics about their vision for the future. Instead their campaign has deftly used social media, primarily TikTok and YouTube, to push the simple slogan of “unity” and framing them as beyond politics and disagreements. Marcos has taken advantage of the average age in the Philippines, which is 25 and leaves many voters with no personal memory of his father’s brutal authoritarian rule which his son refuses to acknowledge.