After his inauguration as the nation’s new leader on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. hailed his dictator father’s regime. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., 64, won last month’s elections by a landslide, securing the greatest triumph since his father and namesake was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986, capping a decades-long quest to restore the clan to the nation’s highest office, reports AFP. In front of hundreds of diplomats, dignitaries, and supporters, Marcos Jr. took the oath in a public event at the National Museum in Manila as the final step in reviving the family name. On Thursday, Marcos Jr., who had previously distanced himself from his father’s reign without criticising it, implored the audience to avoid looking “back in anger or nostalgia.”
Watch | Dictator’s son Marcos Jr. takes oath as Philippines 17th president
Hailing the late patriarch’s administration, Marcos Jr. claimed his father had built more roads and produced more rice than his predecessors. He remarked, “I once knew a man who saw what little had been achieved since independence… but he got it done.”
“So will it be with his son. You will get no excuses from me.”
Critics have called Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr’s reign a dark time of corruption and violations of human rights that contributed to the nation’s poverty.
Also read | In pics: Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr sworn in as Philippines’ 17th President. Critics fear ‘bleak future’
As per a Reuters report, from 1965 until his overthrow and family’s flight into exile after a “people power” revolution, the elder Ferdinand Marcos reigned for two decades, nearly half of which was spent with martial law in place.
During his reign, thousands of his rivals were imprisoned, killed, or simply vanished, and the family name became a synonym for cronyism, extravagance and billions of dollars of missing state wealth. The Marcos family, however, rejects the accusations of theft.
(With inputs from agencies)
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