118 Facts About Bongbong Marcos

Bongbong Marcos is the second child and only son of 10th president Ferdinand Marcos and former first lady Imelda Marcos.

In 1980, Marcos became Vice Governor of Ilocos Norte, running unopposed with the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party of his father, who was ruling the Philippines under martial law at the time.

Bongbong Marcos then became Governor of Ilocos Norte in 1983, holding that office until his family was ousted from power by the People Power Revolution and fled into exile in Hawaii in February 1986.

Bongbong Marcos was elected as Representative of Ilocos Norte's 2nd congressional district from 1992 to 1995.

Bongbong Marcos was elected Governor of Ilocos Norte again in 1998.

Bongbong Marcos unsuccessfully ran for vice president in the 2016 election, losing to Camarines Sur representative Leni Robredo by a difference of 263,473 votes; in response, Bongbong Marcos filed an electoral protest at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal but his petition was unanimously dismissed after the pilot recount resulted in Robredo widening her lead by 15,093 additional votes.

Bongbong Marcos's campaign has been accused of whitewashing the human rights abuses and plunder, estimated at 5 to 13 billion dollars, that took place during his father's presidency.

Bongbong Marcos's godfathers included prominent personalities and future Marcos cronies Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.

Bongbong Marcos first studied at the Institucion Teresiana in Quezon City and La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong, where he obtained his kindergarten and elementary education, respectively.

In 1970, Bongbong Marcos was sent to England where he lived and studied at Worth School, an all-boys Benedictine institution in West Sussex.

Bongbong Marcos was studying there when his father declared martial law throughout the Philippines in 1972.

Bongbong Marcos attended the Center for Research and Communication, where he took a special diploma course in economics, but did not finish.

Bongbong Marcos then enrolled at St Edmund Hall, Oxford to study philosophy, politics and economics.

Bongbong Marcos had passed philosophy, but failed economics, and failed politics twice, thus making him ineligible for a degree.

Bongbong Marcos enrolled in the Masters in Business Administration program at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, United States, which he failed to complete.

Bongbong Marcos asserts that he withdrew from the program for his election as Vice Governor of Ilocos Norte in 1980.

Bongbong Marcos was thrust into the national limelight as early as when he was three years old, and the scrutiny became even more intense when his father first ran for President of the Philippines in 1965, when he was eight years old.

The young Bongbong Marcos was portrayed giving a speech towards the end of the film, in which he says that he would like to be a politician when he grows up.

The Manila Bulletin reported in 2015 that Bongbong Marcos had once invited Beatles drummer Ringo Starr to return to the Philippines "to bring closure" to the incident.

Bongbong Marcos was still a minor on the exact year that martial law was declared.

Bongbong Marcos stayed in office until the People Power Revolution in 1986.

Bongbong Marcos was appointed by his father to be chairman of the board of the Philippine Communications Satellite Corporation in early 1985.

Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos eventually died in exile three years later, in 1989, with Bongbong Marcos Jr.

Bongbong Marcos flew on a private plane from Singapore to the Philippines and landed in Laoag, Ilocos Norte on October 31,1991, becoming the first Marcos family member to return to the Philippines since 1986; his mother Imelda followed suit four days later.

Bongbong Marcos soon sought political office, beginning in the family's traditional fiefdom in Ilocos Norte.

Bongbong Marcos ran for and was elected representative of the second district of Ilocos Norte to the Philippine House of Representatives.

When his mother, Imelda Bongbong Marcos, ran for president in the same election, he decided against supporting her candidacy, and instead expressed support for his godfather Danding Cojuangco.

Bongbong Marcos allocated most of his Countryside Development Fund to organizing the cooperatives of teachers and farmers in his home province.

In 1995, Bongbong Marcos ran for the Senate under the NPC-led coalition but lost, placing only 16th.

Bongbong Marcos served for three consecutive terms ending in 2007.

In 2007, Bongbong Marcos ran unopposed for the congressional seat previously held by his older sister Imee.

Bongbong Marcos was then appointed as deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives.

Bongbong Marcos wrote his own version of the law, but the bill only remained in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Bongbong Marcos promoted the Republic Act No 9502 which was enacted on 2009.

Bongbong Marcos made a second attempt for the Senate in 2010.

Bongbong Marcos became a guest senatorial candidate of the NP through this alliance.

Bongbong Marcos was later removed as a member by the KBL National Executive Committee on November 23,2009.

Bongbong Marcos was proclaimed as one of the winning senatorial candidates of the 2010 senate elections.

Bongbong Marcos was the chair of the Senate committees on urban planning, housing and resettlement, local government, and public works.

Bongbong Marcos chaired the oversight committee on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Organic Act, the congressional oversight panel on the Special Purpose Vehicle Act, and a select oversight committee on barangay affairs.

In 2014, Bongbong Marcos was implicated by Janet Lim Napoles and Benhur Luy in the Priority Development Assistance Fund Pork Barrel scam through agent Catherine Mae "Maya" Santos.

Bongbong Marcos allegedly channeled million through 4 fake NGOs linked with Napoles.

Bongbong Marcos claimed that the large amounts of money was released by the budget department without his knowledge and that his signatures were forged.

In 2016, Bongbong Marcos was sued for plunder for funneling million of his PDAF via 9 special allotment release orders to the following bogus foundations from October 2011 to January 2013, according to Luy's digital files:.

On October 15,2015, presidential candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago confirmed that Bongbong Marcos would serve as her running mate.

Bongbong Marcos placed second in the tightly contested vice presidential race losing to Camarines Sur 3rd district Representative Leni Robredo, who won by a margin of 263,473 votes, one of the closest since Fernando Lopez's victory in the 1965 vice presidential election.

Bongbong Marcos challenged the results of the election, lodging an electoral protest against Leni Robredo on June 29,2016, the day before Robredo's oathtaking.

President Rodrigo Duterte has stated several times that he would resign if Bongbong Marcos would be his successor instead of Vice President Leni Robredo.

Bongbong Marcos officially launched his campaign for president of the Philippines on October 5,2021, through a video post on Facebook and YouTube.

An interview with his wife Liza Bongbong Marcos revealed that he decided to run for president while watching the film Ant-Man, though Bongbong Marcos admitted that he could not recall this moment.

Bongbong Marcos ran under the banner of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas party, assuming chairmanship of the party on the same day, while being endorsed by his former party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan.

Bongbong Marcos filed his certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections the following day.

Bongbong Marcos dismissed the petitions as nuisance petitions with no legal basis and propaganda against him.

Bongbong Marcos became the first presidential candidate to be elected by a majority since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1986.

Bongbong Marcos's majority was the largest since 1981 ; as the opposition boycotted that election, it is the largest majority since 1969 for a competitive election, and his 31-percentage point margin over his nearest opponent was the greatest since Ramon Magsaysay scored a 38-point margin over incumbent President Elpidio Quirino in 1953.

Bongbong Marcos's vote count was not only the largest ever recorded in a presidential election, but close to the sum total of the two previous records combined.

On June 20,2022, Bongbong Marcos announced that he will serve as the Secretary of Agriculture in concurrent capacity.

At concurrent capacity, Bongbong Marcos appointed himself as Secretary of Agriculture, in order to address inflation and personally monitor the food and agricultural sectors, while enacting efforts to boost farm outputs through various loan programs, affordable pricing measures, and machinery assistance.

The next day after his inauguration, Bongbong Marcos signed a memorandum seeking to provide free train rides to students, and extends the free rides of the EDSA Carousel until the end of December 2022.

Twelve days later, on July 13,2022, Bongbong Marcos announced that the free train rides will only be limited to students using the LRT Line 2, due to the line's access points to the University Belt.

Two days after his inauguration, on July 2,2022, Bongbong Marcos vetoed a bill sponsored by his sister Senator Imee Bongbong Marcos that aimed to create a free economic zone within New Manila International Airport.

Bongbong Marcos said that the bill would cite "substantial fiscal risks", lacked coherences with existing laws, and the proposed economic zone's location near the existing Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone; Marcos called for further studies in establishing the planned economic zone.

On July 5,2022, five days after his inauguration, Bongbong Marcos held his first cabinet meeting, which was delayed during his inauguration, and laid out his first agenda, which primarily focuses on reviving the economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bongbong Marcos tackled issues regarding food security, transportation issues, and the reopening of face-to-face classes within the year.

On July 23,2022, Bongbong Marcos has vetoed a bill which seeks to strengthen the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, as he cited that several provisions of the bill are "inequitable".

On July 25,2022, the same day of his first State of the Nation Address, Bongbong Marcos allowed Republic Act No 11900, known as the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act to lapse into law.

On July 30,2022, Bongbong Marcos vetoed a bill which grants tax exemption on poll workers' honoraria and the creation of a transport safety board, stating that the honoraria "counters the objective of the government's Comprehensive Tax Reform Program", while mentioning that the proposed creation of a transport safety board "undertakes the functions by the different agencies" within the transport sector.

Subsequently serving as the Secretary of Agriculture, Bongbong Marcos launched initiatives which aims to improve domestic agricultural output and production, while expanding measures to further establish a farm-to-market approach in providing agricultural products to local markets and far flung areas.

SRA Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian later apologized for the move and later resigned his post on Bongbong Marcos; behalf, prompting SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica and SRA board member Roland Beltran to follow suit a few days later.

In November 2022, Bongbong Marcos expanded the Kadiwa Project launched by the Duterte administration, which aims to offer fresh local produces to local markets and other key areas in lower prices, and creates a direct farm-to-market approach of goods and services.

In January 2023, amid rising prices of onions in the country, Bongbong Marcos approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons of onions to cater the gap caused by low local outputs, and stated that the government was "left without a choice" despite approving the smuggled onions to be supplied in local markets.

Bongbong Marcos signed his fourth executive order on September 14,2022, which establishes a one-year moratorium on the amortization and interest payments of agrarian reform beneficiaries.

In July 2023, Bongbong Marcos signed the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, freeing at least 600,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries of decades-old debts worth 57-billion under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Bongbong Marcos expressed support for the AFP Modernization Program, which aims to boost the country's defense capabilities.

Bongbong Marcos expressed his support to modernize the country's schools by improving science-related subjects and courses, theoretical aptitude, and vocational skills.

The Bongbong Marcos administration approved the inclusion of the Philippines to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement, which was ratified by the Senate on February 21,2023.

Bongbong Marcos's administration formed the Private Sector Advisory Council, a council that will advise the President on economic affairs.

Bongbong Marcos appointed Vice President Sara Duterte as co-vice chair of the NTF-ELCAC.

Early in his presidency, Bongbong Marcos promised to continue his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte's foreign policy of being "friends to all, enemies to none".

Bongbong Marcos initially sought closer ties with China, but has since been increasingly seen as more pro-American than Duterte in an attempt to create a centrist-style balancing act between the two superpowers.

Under his presidency, Bongbong Marcos intensified the Philippines' cooperation on both economic and defense arrangements to Western countries, such as the United States, Japan, Australia, and the European Union, while strengthening its defense posture within the region.

Bongbong Marcos approved the designation of four additional bases to be used by the United States military under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

Bongbong Marcos called on all involved parties on the South China Sea to abide by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in order to diffuse potential conflicts in the future.

The investigation disclosed in a 1991 memorandum that the Bongbong Marcos family had failed to file estate tax returns and several income tax returns covering the years of 1982 to 1986 in violation of the National Internal Revenue Code.

On March 12,1993, lawyer Loreto Ata, representing Bongbong Marcos, called the attention of the BIR to notify them of any action taken by the BIR against his client.

Bongbong Marcos then filed an instant petition on June 25,1993, for certiorari and prohibition to contest the estate tax deficiency assessment.

Bongbong Marcos subsequently appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals over his conviction.

On October 31,1997, the Court of Appeals affirmed its earlier decision with Bongbong Marcos being convicted for the failure of the filing of an income tax return under Section 45 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1977 while being acquitted of tax evasion under the charge of violating Section 50 of the same statute.

In spite of the removal of the penalty of imprisonment, Bongbong Marcos was ordered the payment of back income taxes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue with interest and the issuance of corresponding fines of per count of non-filing of income tax returns from 1982 to 1984 and for 1985, plus the accrued interest.

Bongbong Marcos later filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the Philippines over the modified conviction imposed by the Court of Appeals but subsequently withdrew his petition on August 8,2001, thereby declaring the ruling as final and executory.

In 2021, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court certified that there were no records on file of Bongbong Marcos settling the corresponding tax dues and fines.

Nevertheless, the Commission on Elections ruled against the consolidated disqualification cases against Bongbong Marcos and stated that "Further, to prove the absence of any ill-intention and bad faith on his part," Bongbong Marcos submitted a Bureau of Internal Revenue certification and an official receipt from the Landbank, showing his compliance with the CA decision directing him to pay deficiency income taxes amounting to a little over, including fines and surcharges.

The judgement effectively barred Imelda and Bongbong Marcos from entering any US territory.

However, on June 9,2022, United States Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman clarified in a roundtable discussion with local reporters during a state visit, that as a head of state, Bongbong Marcos enjoys diplomatic immunity in all circumstances, stating that he is welcome to visit the United States under his official role.

Bongbong Marcos has described his political views as "conservative" and "Machiavellian".

Bongbong Marcos has described the "spirit of nationalism" as a force driving progress in the Philippines.

In terms of economic policy, analysts have speculated that Bongbong Marcos would pursue liberal policies as opposed to protectionist rhetoric during his presidential campaign.

Duterte said he prayed for Bongbong Marcos to survive until the end of his term since Duterte does not want himself or his daughter Sara to become president.

Bongbong Marcos was ordered to appear before the National Bureau of Investigation, with such statements potentially leading to criminal charges.

Specific criticisms have been leveled at Bongbong Marcos for being unapologetic for human rights violations and ill-gotten wealth during his father's administration.

In July 2020, Brittany Kaiser alleged in an interview that Bongbong Marcos had approached the controversial firm Cambridge Analytica in order to "rebrand" the Bongbong Marcos family image on social media.

In 1990, during a coverage of Imelda Marcos's trial in New York, Inquirer journalist Kristina Luz interviewed then-33-year-old exiled Bongbong Marcos and asked where the Marcos wealth came from.

Bongbong Marcos responded "only I know where the gold is and how to get it".

The myth surrounding the gold allegedly owned by the Bongbong Marcos family has been the subject of various misinformation, as in 2011, a Facebook post claimed that a certain "Tallano clan" had paid Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Sr.

However during his Philippine presidential election campaign in the 2022 elections, when asked over One News to verify the mythical "Tallano gold" or the long-believed tale that they got a share of the Japanese Yamashita gold, Bongbong Marcos denied knowledge of it, even joking that "people should let him know if they see any of that gold".

Bongbong Marcos is married to lawyer Louise "Liza" Cacho Araneta, a member of the prominent Araneta family.

The Bongbong Marcos family maintains a residence in Forbes Park, Makati.

Bongbong Marcos is an avid listener of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and jazz music.

Bongbong Marcos once held a record collection in Malacanang Palace that he described as "the best record collection in the Philippines" but left it when his family was exiled from the country in 1986.

Bongbong Marcos is a fan of the Beatles, citing Sgt.

Bongbong Marcos is an avid reader, a cinephile, and a gun enthusiast, where he holds a competition under his name.

Bongbong Marcos follows Formula One racing as a supporter of Scuderia Ferrari; during his presidency, he attended the 2022 and 2023 Singapore Grand Prix with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and other foreign dignitaries.

On March 31,2020, Bongbong Marcos's spokesperson confirmed that Bongbong Marcos had tested positive for COVID-19.

Bongbong Marcos has since recovered from the disease after testing negative on a RT-PCR test on May 5,2020, a month after testing positive for COVID-19.

Bongbong Marcos responded that he did not feel that he was the one alluded to by President Duterte.

In late January 2024, Bongbong Marcos's alleged cocaine use was brought anew by Duterte, during a prayer rally against Charter change in Davao City.

Duterte said that these companions of Bongbong Marcos were already working for his administration, and cited this as the reason why he did not vote for him in the 2022 general election.

Bongbong Marcos maintained he had never used illegal narcotics, let alone cocaine, and blamed Duterte's use of fentanyl as a response.