They bopped along to the beat of a martial law anthem updated into a pop tune. They cheered when an A-list celebrity proclaimed that the spirit of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the former dictator, was alive. And when Marcos’ son and namesake held up the peace sign made popular by his father a generation ago, the shrieking crowds mirrored it in return.
It is election season in the Philippines, and history is being rewritten, one campaign rally at a time.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has spent decades defending his family’s name against accusations of greed and corruption and downplaying the legacy of his father’s brutal rule. During his presidential campaign, he has portrayed himself as a unifier, while false narratives online reimagine his father’s regime as a "golden era” in the nation’s history.