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MANILA — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the previous dictator, was sworn in Thursday because the seventeenth president of the Philippines, praising his father’s legacy and pledging to confront an array of challenges as Rodrigo Duterte, the outgoing president, concluded a six-year time period.
In a ceremony that capped a outstanding comeback for a household as soon as pressured into exile, Mr. Marcos, 64, introduced himself as a pacesetter who would assist the Philippines enhance its economic system and safe a extra affluent future.
“You’ll not be disillusioned, so don’t be afraid,” Mr. Marcos mentioned, chatting with hundreds of supporters — together with his 92-year-old mom, Imelda Marcos — on the Nationwide Museum of Advantageous Arts in Manila.
His victory has stoked issues that one other Marcos administration might return the nation to its autocratic previous. Not solely did Mr. Marcos clinch the strongest majority vote in additional than 30 years, however his allies additionally now management a lot of the Home and the Senate.
His operating mate, Sara Duterte, the daughter of Mr. Duterte, gained the vice presidency with an excellent bigger share of the vote. The president and vp are elected individually within the Philippines. Ms. Duterte was inaugurated earlier this month.
In his inauguration speech, Mr. Marcos mentioned his father’s administration constructed roads, produced rice and “by no means did not defeat international makes an attempt to interrupt up our nation.”
The scene surrounding Mr. Marcos’s inauguration on Thursday supplied a vivid reminder of the challenges he faces in therapeutic a rustic nonetheless scarred by the recollections of martial legislation below his father.
Hundreds of safety forces stood guard as protesters gathered at a spot known as “Freedom Park,” about half a mile from the nationwide museum. To lots of the protesters, the Marcos title was a byword for extra, corruption and greed.
“The Marcos household must be made to pay for his or her sins and jailed, not celebrated,” mentioned Marites Karganila, 53, a avenue vendor from a township south of Manila. Two of her cousins had been jailed through the martial legislation years.
Opponents say Mr. Marcos has already demonstrated anti-democratic tendencies, pointing to how he has largely shunned the information media and broke with norms by refusing to take part in a lot of the presidential debates.
“I didn’t speak a lot on this marketing campaign; I didn’t trouble to consider rebutting my rivals,” Mr. Marcos mentioned throughout his inauguration speech. As an alternative, he mentioned he hung out looking “for promising approaches higher than the same old options.”
Mr. Marcos, who goes by his childhood nickname, Bongbong, assumed the presidency because the nation is attempting to get well from the pandemic whereas managing rising inflation and mounting debt. He additionally inherited from Mr. Duterte a legacy of a drug struggle that has killed tens of hundreds of individuals and prompted an investigation by the Worldwide Prison Courtroom.
The brand new president, who has beforehand indicated that he wouldn’t assist the I.C.C. with its investigation into Mr. Duterte, signaled in his speech that he would reject all international interference in home politics. “We will belief nobody else on the subject of what’s greatest for us,” he mentioned.
He pledged to enhance the economic system and to give you an complete infrastructure plan. Traders, nonetheless, have demonstrated little religion in his financial capability. Mr. Marcos positioned close to the underside of a Bloomberg ballot that requested traders and analysts who they thought could be the very best candidate to steer the economic system.
Whereas a number of of his cupboard positions are but to be crammed, this month Mr. Marcos introduced that he would tackle the function of agriculture minister, an uncommon transfer that will give him direct management over meals costs, which have been rising. Protection, international affairs and well being ministry positions stay vacant.
In his speech, Mr. Marcos additionally appealed to the multiple million Filipinos who left the nation to search out work overseas — as nannies, residence well being aides and seamen. These staff signify solely about 2 % of the inhabitants, however they’ve emerged as an vital voting bloc.
“We’re condemning the way forward for our race to menial occupations overseas,” Mr. Marcos mentioned. He paid particular tribute to nurses working abroad, recognizing that “they’re on the market as a result of we can’t pay them for a similar threat and workload that we’ve again right here.”
Thursday’s inauguration got here after a polarizing election. Leni Robredo, the nation’s outgoing vp, was Mr. Marcos’s principal rival. Tens of hundreds of her supporters campaigned door to door in an enormous grass-roots motion decided to stop a second Marcos presidency. However she positioned a far second to Mr. Marcos.
Emerson Briones, an Orthodox archbishop, mentioned he didn’t perceive why individuals had been protesting in opposition to the brand new president. He and dozens of Mr. Marcos’s followers celebrated the inauguration in entrance of the previous Senate constructing. “I imagine, as do all of us, that he would be the greatest president ever,” Archbishop Briones mentioned. “We’re in for an thrilling journey.”
“It was a good election,” he added. “The sins of his father, no matter they’re, usually are not his.”
Jason Gutierrez reported from Manila and Sui-Lee Wee from Singapore. Camille Elemia contributed reporting from Manila.
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