Presidential Election in the Philippines: A Candidate with Conflict Potential

A new president will be elected in the Philippines in May 2022. Many apply for the office. President Duterte’s daughter is running for the vice-presidency. Duterte wants to be a senator.

Would there be a Duterte-Duterte duo, the daughter as president, the father as vice-president? Or a race between daughter and father, both for the post of runner-up? The speculation about the elections in the Philippines grew wilder and wilder. Up to the last minute, numerous politicians had left it open as to whether and for which post they would run. Registration closed on Monday and then it was clear – the president did not want to retire yet.

Daughter Dutertes wants to be Vice President

A reporter from the news portal Rappler stands at the election committee, where a representative submits Duterte’s candidacy for the Senate – and holds up his candidate card.

Contrary to assumptions, his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio did not run as a candidate for the presidency, but as vice-president. In the Philippines, elections are made separately for both posts. She is currently the mayor of her hometown Davao on the southern island of Mindanao – her father also ruled there for many years and was notorious for his bloody fight against drugs, which he then continued as president.

“Good chances in choosing”

Some women tell the Reuters news agency: “She is good as a mayor and she has a good chance of voting, especially with her father and his influence.” And they go on to say: “She represents us, I’m from Mindanao too and we want her to continue what her father started.”

So far, predictions had given Sara Duterte-Carpio the best chance of being elected president. Her father explained in a radio interview on Sunday that she is only running for runner-up: “That was probably a decision made by the people around Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos. They want Sara to be his vice-president.”

Son of ex-dictator Marcos is also running

Ferdinand Marcos junior, called Bongbong, is the son of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He ruled under martial law for 14 years until he had to flee in 1986. But his wife Imelda, his daughter Imee and his son Bongbong have been active in politics for many years, as senators or as congressmen. And maybe soon as president. The daughter of a president who tramples human rights and a dictator’s son as a duo – how can that be?

Lots of disinformation on social media

Rebecca Zistel, head of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in the Philippines, explains: “On the one hand, the education system here in the Philippines does not explain the Marcos dictatorship, on the other hand, the Marcos clan uses social media heavily in its favor Facebook and Youtube are the Internet and therefore there is a lot of disinformation about the past and the respective candidates, because there are no Facebook and Youtube regulations that prevent disinformation. “

At least some parts of the Filipino population are deterred by the prospect of a Marcos-Duterte duo, as demonstrated by protests in Quezon: “Never again,” the demonstrators chanted.

Other candidates for the presidency include popular boxer Manny Pacquiao and Christopher Bong Go, a supporter of Dutertes.

A candidate to represent the poor

And Leni Robredo, the current Vice President, is also running. Zistel says of her: “She has started a lot of programs to help and support the marginalized population, especially now during the Covid pandemic. And her background as a lawyer in this area also makes her a candidate who really could bring about a change in the country. “

A candidate who is as far removed as possible from Duterte’s authoritarian style, a candidate for the poor.