Philippines election: The race of 2 ‘children of the family’
Mr. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte, the two most prominent candidates before the Philippine presidential election on May 9 this year – Photo: GMA
Polls show that two prominent faces are Mr. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Ms. Sara Duterte are far ahead of the competition.
It is noteworthy that both are “children of the family”. While Mr. Marcos (running for president) is the son of late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Sara (running for vice president) is the daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte.
Analysts say that the family’s reputation and media campaigns play a big part in helping them attract voters.
Last attempt
Reuters quoted the latest poll results of Pulse Asia released on May 2, showing that Marcos is leading with a large gap between rivals. This candidate received 56% support in April 2022, unchanged from the previous month.
While the support rates of other candidates, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo and legendary boxer Manny Pacquiao, are 23% and 7% respectively.
In the “race” for the vice-presidential seat, Sara Duterte received 55% of the support, far ahead of the second candidates Vicente Sotto (18%) and Kiko Pangilinan (16%). After the latest poll results, Sara Duterte, the mayor of Davao, said she was not too surprised.
Indeed, she has been a standout candidate from the start, being mentioned many times by Mr. Duterte and described as having a strong personality like riding a motorcycle, often carrying a gun and making controversial statements.
Overcome with victory, Mr. Marcos is scheduled to hold three major advocacy events this week. Ms. Robredo will also throw her final punches at major events in the central Philippines.
About 67 million Filipino voters will cast their ballots on May 9, and the last day allowed to campaign is May 7. In addition to the seats of president and vice president, voters also choose thousands of positions from national to local levels such as congressmen, governors, mayors…
In November 2021, Mrs. Duterte announced that she would cooperate with Mr. Marcos for the election. Although the positions of president and vice president of the Philippines are elected separately, this alliance will help the two sides take advantage of the great support from the two families’ prestige.
Source: Philippine Election Commission, Pulse Asia – Graphics: T.DAT
Election colors
The Philippines’ 2022 election has a lot of color and symbolism, and this year factors such as reputation and social media can have a significant impact, even more so than the platform.
Besides the blue color of candidate Isko Moreno Domagoso (Mayor of Manila), or red – yellow – blue of the PDP – Laban ruling party, this year’s “explosive” color is pink of Ms. Robredo – the woman. only out of 10 presidential candidates.
“I will bring to everyone reliable, competent, industrious leadership. People will not be left behind,” the Philippine vice president was quoted as saying by AFP.
Meanwhile, the leading candidate Marcos ran in red and green with almost no specific background for the campaign and often only called for “unity”.
The Marcos-Duterte alliance also made common commitments such as recovering the economy after the pandemic and boosting jobs. Mr. Marcos was described as a soft, kind person, despite being called “weak” by Mr. Duterte.
Ms. Robredo had challenged Mr. Marcos to argue to show his personality and vision to voters, but Mr. Marcos refused.
In 2017, when running for vice president, Mr. Marcos accepted a televised challenge to answer 16 general questions about the country, such as the number of judges of the supreme court, the typical Philippine jeepney fare… and he got only 7 correct.
But Mr. Marcos also has powerful tools of family reputation and social media. During the 1965 – 1986 rule of his father, the late President Marcos Sr., the Philippine economy was assessed to develop extremely strongly.
“What he represents is his father’s legacy, which Filipinos are expressing a desire to have back,” said Harvard University researcher Jonathan Corpus Ong.
The influence of social networks
In this election, Mr. Marcos and other candidates took full advantage of social networks such as TikTok, YouTube… because they are very popular in the Philippines.
The 2016 election has also been likened to a “social media election”, in which Mr Duterte won with a huge following across platforms.
“We see there are five main themes he talks about: unity, cooperation, energy, China and the Marcos empire.
The message of solidarity is a bit vague but makes it easy for supporters to remember,” a student said about Marcos’ online campaign. historical deviation.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: tuoitre.vn – Read the original article here
