Politics

Marcos Jr sworn in as Philippines’ new president

Manila, Jun 30 (EFE).- Ferdinand Marcos Jr was sworn in Thursday as the president of the Philippines for a single six-year term after sweeping the May elections.

He succeeds the controversial outgoing president, Rodrigo Duterte.

“You, the people have spoken and it is resounding,” Marcos Jr said in an address after being sworn in a ceremony in front of the National Museum.

Marcos Jr won 50 percent of the votes in the May 9 elections, an outcome he described as “the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.”

Marcos renewed his call for unity and struck a nationalistic tone in a speech full of nods to the years of rule of his father, the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who died in exile in 1989.

“We will go further together than against each other, pushing forward not pulling each other back out of fear, out of a misplaced sense of weakness,” he said.

“The changes we shape will benefit all and will shortchange no one. I was not the instrument of change, you were that. You made it happen,” he added.

“I am here not to talk about the past. I am here to tell you about our future,” he said in his half-hour long speech, which was mainly in English with a few phrases in Tagalog, the most widely spoken language in the country.

Hours before the ceremony, the official transfer of powers between Marco Jr and Duterte, who did not attend the inauguration, was held at the Malacañán presidential palace.

Marcos Jr’s electoral win marked the return of the famous dynasty to power 36 years after a popular revolution ended his father’s regime and forced the family to flee the country in a helicopter.

The ceremony was attended by dignitaries and Marcos’ wife, four children and mother, Imelda, who ruled together with her husband between 1965-1986, including the decade of violent martial law declared by the late leader. EFE

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