Marcos calls years in exile dark days for family, country

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. called the years when his family was in exile "dark days" for the Marcoses and even for the Philippines.

In an interview with World Economic Forum president Børge Brende in Davos, Marcos indicated that the fact that the issue when he returned to the country in 1992 was his family name pushed him to start his career in politics.

"We were in exile for six years. We weren't sure if we were coming back at all. My father never made it back. He died in Hawaii. That was a very trying time. Those were dark days for the family and I dare say even for the country,” he said.

Marcos recalled it has been more than 30 years since his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was deposed after the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986.

The former president died on September 28, 1989.

“But after we came back from the United States, after exile, when we were first allowed to come back, the political issue was Marcos. And for us, to defend ourselves politically, somebody had to enter politics and be in the political arena, so at least, not only the legacy of my father but even our own survival required that somebody go into politics,” he said.

'Every lieutenant wants to be general'

Marcos ran and won a seat in Congress in 1992.  He continued his political career becoming governor of Ilocos Norte in 1998 and then running anew for congressman in 2007. 

He was elected senator in 2010 before running for vice president and losing to Leni Robredo in 2016.

Marcos became president in 2022, elected by 31 million voters.

In his younger years, Marcos said he never imagined life as a politician.

“But life takes you to places that you did not expect and so once I was entrenched into political arena, well, if you’re going to do this, you better do it well,” he said.

“Every lieutenant wants to be general, every clerk wants to be the CEO, I’m saying that let’s do the best we can and take it as far  as we can take it, so we just never stopped.

He said his election victory in 2022 was a result of the Filipinos believing in his campaign message.

“I was blessed that the Filipino voters agreed with the message  that we put out during the campaign and returned a very strong mandate for the presidency,” he said.

Marcos has touted the Philippines as the fastest growing economy in the Southeast Asian region, predicting the country to post a seven-percent economic growth in 2023 with strong macro-economic fundamentals in place.

He said the Philippines' "strong macroeconomic fundamentals, fiscal discipline, structural reforms and liberalization of key sectors instituted over the years have enabled us to withstand the negative shocks caused by the pandemic and succeeding economic downturns and map a route toward a strong recovery.”—NB/LDF, GMA Integrated News