Manila: Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of late leader Ferdinand Marcos, will be sworn in as the 19th President of the Philippines on Thursday, succeeding the outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.
Marcos Jr. won the presidential election in May with 60 per cent of the votes over rival Maria Leonor Robredo.
Meanwhile, his running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio, the 43-year-old daughter of Rodrigo Duterte, will be sworn in as the Vide President.
The oath taking ceremony will take place in the afternoon at the National Museum in Manila.
Hundreds of local and foreign dignitaries will attend and some 15,000 security personnel will be deployed across the Philippines capital for the event.
Marcos Jr.’s win marks a stunning comeback for the Marcos political dynasty, which was ousted after a popular revolt in 1986.
Ferdinand Marcos led the country from 1965 until 1986, imposing martial law and presiding over a period of widespread human rights abuses, corruption and poverty.
That rule ended in 1986, when a mass uprising saw millions of people take to the streets and the Marcos family fled the country for Hawaii.
Marcos Jr., a long-time politician who returned to the Philippines in 1991, has since sought to paint his father’s presidency as a “golden period” of growth and prosperity.
His popularity was buoyed by an aggressive social media drive, which proved especially appealing to voters not old enough to have experienced the years of dictatorship first-hand.
Meanwhile, critics levelled accusations that his social media campaign was rife with misinformation and whitewashed atrocities under his father’s rule.
He has denied these allegations.
(IANS)
