Marcos-Duterte, Philippines bets on a return to the past

One hundred and ten million Filipinos are once again threatened by the worst memories of their past. A few weeks ago, the pre-campaign for the elections to be held in May next year began, and many citizens already consider the political future that anticipates their freedoms and democratic ambitions to be more than likely.

The two surnames that mark the past and present of national politics, Marcos and Duterte, will be on the presidential ticket with the best chance of winning. Much can still happen, but no one doubts that the ticket being drawn up between Ferdinand Marcos and Sara Duterte will be the favourite.

Ferdinand Marcos is the son of Marcos and Imelda, the married couple who for many years ruled the country with an iron fist and without scruples against their opponents, many of whom could not tell the tale. Sara Duterte is the daughter of the current president, who will be immortalised by the bloodthirsty policies imposed from power without recourse to the right to justice.

The two names were long touted as predestined to perpetuate the memory of their progenitors. Unlike in most countries with presidential systems, in the Philippines the elections for president and vice-president are separate, but in this case everything suggests that the two candidates are fully in tune with each other in terms of both ideas and methods.

More candidates will undoubtedly compete. The former boxing champion, very popular in the country, Manny Pacquiano, is for the moment the best known and the one who arouses most sympathy. But, faced with the Marcos-Duterte tandem, wrapped in the nostalgia that the Marcoses have left among some and the control that the vice-presidential hopeful's father wields so ruthlessly, he will be hard to beat.

The couple aspiring to continue the power of their progenitors will likely have Washington's blessing: the Philippines is the oldest US ally in Asia. Their surnames once again renew the reality that despite progress, success in politics is highly dependent on family tradition; it has almost become hereditary.