Philippine president-elect 'gets chance to clean family name'

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Philippines President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has got a special opportunity to clean his family's name, a newly elected Filipino lawmaker said on Tuesday.

“It has been decades since their (family) name was stained. This is the time for him to clean their name,” said Robin Padilla, who has been elected to the archipelago nation's Senate.

“I know and believe that he (Marcos) will do everything for our country,” the actor-turned-politician, who is set to take oath on Thursday, told reporters at the Senate when asked about his expectations of the Marcos administration.

The president-elect is the son of former dictator Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr., who was ousted by a people's revolt in 1986 amid widespread allegations of corruption, extravagance, and brutality under his regime. Marcos Sr. passed away in 1989.

A lawyer by profession, Marcos Sr.’s unpopular regime began with his presidency in 1965. He ruled under martial law from 1972 until 1981, and branded his rule as “constitutional authoritarianism."

Marcos Jr., 64, secured a landslide victory last month in presidential election, and is set to take oath as the 17th Philippine president on Thursday as his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte leaves the office after completing a six-year term.

The oath-taking ceremony will be held at the National Museum in the capital Manila.