Marcos is Proclaimed President-Elect, What's Next?
President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was proclaimed on Wednesday after a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives finished the official count of the votes cast in the May 9 elections.
The 17th president of the Republic of the Philippines will be sworn into office at noon of June 30. Here are the challenges facing the incoming leader of 110 million people until the early days of his administration.
Build a new government
Marcos has so far tapped his running mate, Vice President-elect Sara Duterte, as education secretary and former socieconomic planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan to return to his old cabinet portfolio.
Campaign spokesman and chief of staff Vic Rodriguez will be executive secretary, Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla will be justice secretary,Marcos' campaign manager Benhur Abalos will serve as interior secretary, and lawyer-turned-vlogger Trixie Cruz-Angeles will be press secretary.
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Chart a post-COVID recovery path
In the quarter ended March, the economy grew 8.3%, exceeding analysts' forecasts and indicating that Marcos will have momentum to build on as he leads the Philippines out of the pandemic.
Pandemic lockdowns in the Philippines under outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte were among the world's longest and strictest, resulting in the worst recession since World War II. According to an SWS poll two weeks before Marcos' landslide win, four in 10 Filipino families consider themselves poor.
There's also the specter of high inflation, or fast-rising consumer prices that led the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last week to raise interest rates for the first time since the pandemic.
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Foster unity among Filipinos
Marcos campaigned on a slogan of "unity" and after his proclamation late Tuesday, he appealed to the public to give him a chance.
"To have received over 31 million votes from our countrymen is as valuable expression of trust as can be had by anyone in public life. And so for that I thank our people. Beyond that, I promise you that we may not be perfect but we will always strive to perfection," Marcos said.
"I ask you all, pray for me, wish me well. I want to do well because when a president does well, the country does well. And I want to do well for this country," he added.
With over 31 million votes, Marcos is the first president to receive a majority mandate from the electorate since 1986, the year his family was forced into exile after the first People Power Revolution. Marcos' closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, got 15 million.
Sen. Imee Marcos on Wednesday thanked those who voted her brother Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. for president in the May 9 elections, seeing his victory as a "restoration of faith and confidence" in their family.
"We're most grateful for this overwhelming majority vote. It's extraordinary and some people say that it's a second chance and it's really remarkable," Imee told CNN Philippines in an interview.
"Thank you very much for the huge majority and this restoration of faith and confidence in my family. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Marcos pa rin mula noon hanggang ngayon," he added.