Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., known as Bongbong, has been President of the Philippines since June 2022, restoring to power the family that a popular uprising expelled in 1986. Born in Manila in 1957, he is the only son of Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled for twenty-one years and declared martial law in 1972, and Imelda Marcos. He was educated at Worth School in England and attended Oxford, where he did not complete the degree his official biographies long claimed, receiving instead a special diploma in social studies — a discrepancy raised repeatedly in campaigns. He was made vice-governor of Ilocos Norte at twenty-three under his father's rule. The family fled to Hawaii in February 1986 after the People Power revolution. Estimates of what they took from the Philippine treasury run to five or ten billion dollars, and a Hawaii court found the estate liable for two billion dollars in a human rights case brought by some ten thousand victims of martial law, in which around 70,000 were imprisoned and thousands tortured or killed. The family returned in 1991 and rebuilt in Ilocos Norte, where Bongbong was governor, congressman and then senator from 2010. He lost the vice-presidency narrowly in 2016 and won the presidency in 2022 with about fifty-nine per cent, running with Sara Duterte and campaigning on unity while declining most debates. His campaign was accompanied by an extensive social-media effort presenting his father's rule as a golden age. In office he has reversed his predecessor's tilt towards China, expanding US base access and confronting Chinese vessels at Second Thomas Shoal. His alliance with the Dutertes collapsed, and Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on an ICC warrant in March 2025.
- Lived: 1957 CE – ?
- Nationality: Filipino
- Roles: President of the Philippines (2022-present)
