Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong, favourite to win the high-stakes race and restore his family to the pinnacle of power
Polls opened in the Philippines on Monday as the country decides its next president in a polarising race between frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son of the late dictator, and a human rights lawyer who has vowed to tackle old, rotten politics.
Opinion surveys suggest Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong, is poised to win the election, despite his family’s notorious history of human rights abuses and corruption. The Marcoses plundered as much as $10bn from the state, while thousands of his opponents were arrested, tortured and killed.
