Bongbong Marcos

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (,, ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials PBBM or BBM, is a Filipino politician who is the 17th and current President of the Philippines.

Bongbong Marcos was born as Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. on September 13, 1957, at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Santa Mesa, Manila, Philippines, to Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos.

At the time of his birth, his father Ferdinand was the representative for the second district of Ilocos Norte, eventually becoming a senator just two years later.

His godfathers included prominent personalities and future Marcos cronies Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. and pharmaceuticals magnate Jose Yao Campos.

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

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.

During his father's 1965 campaign, Marcos played himself in the Sampaguita Pictures film Iginuhit ng Tadhana: The Ferdinand E. Marcos Story, a biopic based on the novel For Every Tear a Victory.

The young 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 public relations value of the film is credited for having helped the elder Marcos win the 1965 Philippine elections.

A young Bongbong Marcos and his sister Imee played a small role in the controversial "Manila incident" of the Beatles in July 1966, just six months after their father assumed the presidency.

Bongbong and Imee were among 400 children whom their mother Imelda brought to Malacañang Palace for a reception in which they expected the Beatles to show up.

The four band members claimed not to know about the event, and refused to attend.

As the event went on without them, the Marcos children were interviewed.

Bongbong, referring to the group's long hair, was quoted saying "I'd like to pounce on the Beatles and cut off their hair! Don't anybody dare me to do anything, because I'll do it, just to see how game the Beatles are."

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

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

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

He then enrolled at St Edmund Hall, Oxford to study philosophy, politics and economics (PPE).

However, despite his false claims that he graduated with a bachelor of arts in PPE, he did not obtain such a degree.

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

Instead, he received a special diploma in social studies, which was awarded mainly to non-graduates and is currently no longer offered by the university.

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.

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

The Presidential Commission on Good Government later reported that his tuition, his US$10000 (₱ in 2024) monthly allowance, and the estate he lived in while studying at Wharton, were paid using funds that could be traced partly to the intelligence funds of the Office of the President, and partly to some of the fifteen bank accounts that the Marcoses had secretly opened in the US under assumed names.

His win was the largest since 1981, when his father won 88% of the votes due to a boycott by the opposition who protested the prior election.

Marcos's presidential campaign received criticism from fact-checkers and disinformation scholars, who found his campaign to be driven by historical negationism aimed at revamping the Marcos brand and smearing his rivals.

His campaign has also 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.

He 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.

After the death of his father in 1989, President Corazon Aquino eventually allowed his family to return to the Philippines to face various charges.

Marcos and his mother, Imelda, are currently facing arrest in the United States for defying a court order to pay US$353 million (₱ in 2024) in restitution to human rights abuse victims during his father's dictatorship.

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

He was elected Governor of Ilocos Norte again in 1998.

The Washington Post has noted how the historical distortionism of the Marcoses has been underway since the 2000s, while The New York Times cited his convictions of tax fraud, including his refusal to pay his family's estate taxes, and misrepresentation of his education at the University of Oxford.

After nine years, he returned to his previous position as Representative from 2007 to 2010, then became senator under the Nacionalista Party from 2010 to 2016.

He previously served as a senator from 2010 to 2016.

He is the second child and only son of tenth President, kleptocrat and dictator Ferdinand Marcos and former First Lady Imelda Marcos.

Marcos still falsely claims that he obtained a degree from the University of Oxford despite Oxford confirming in 2015 that Marcos did not finish his degree.

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.

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, 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.

Marcos ran for President of the Philippines in the 2022 election under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, which he won by a landslide with nearly 59% of the vote.