World
The Philippines Toppled One Marcos. Now His Son May Become President.
MANILA — They bopped alongside to the beat of a martial legislation anthem up to date right into a pop tune. They cheered when an A-list superstar proclaimed that the spirit of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the previous dictator, was alive. And when Mr. Marcos’s son and namesake held up the peace signal made well-liked by his father a technology in the past, the shrieking crowds mirrored it in return.
It’s election season within the Philippines, and historical past is being rewritten, one marketing campaign rally at a time.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has spent many years defending his household’s title towards accusations of greed and corruption and downplaying the legacy of his father’s brutal rule. Throughout his presidential marketing campaign, he has portrayed himself as a unifier, whereas false narratives on-line reimagine his father’s regime as a “golden period” within the nation’s historical past.
Now, as patriarch of the Marcos dynasty, Mr. Marcos is anticipated to be the primary individual to win the presidential election within the Philippines by a majority in additional than three many years.
The race is being solid as a contest between those that bear in mind the previous and people who are accused of making an attempt to distort it, the final chapter in a brazen try to absolve the Marcoses of wrongdoing and quash any effort to carry the household accountable. 5 years of President Rodrigo Duterte — a powerful Marcos ally identified for his bloody struggle on medication and for jailing his critics — could have presaged a Marcos household comeback.
“It is going to decide not simply our future however our previous,” stated Maria Ressa, a journalist and Nobel Prize winner who’s an outspoken critic of each Mr. Duterte and Mr. Marcos.
The Marcoses are accused of looting as a lot as $10 billion from the federal government earlier than fleeing to Hawaii in 1986, when the peaceable “Folks Energy” protests toppled the Marcos regime. The household returned to the nation shortly after the demise of the elder Mr. Marcos in 1989.
Regardless of the exile, the Marcos title by no means actually left the political institution.
Mr. Marcos, identified by his boyhood nickname, “Bongbong,” served as vice governor, governor and congressman in Ilocos Norte, the household stronghold, for a lot of the interval between the Eighties and 2010. That 12 months, he entered the nationwide political scene when he was elected senator. Imelda Marcos, his 92-year-old mom, ran for president twice and misplaced within the Nineties.
Rehabilitating the household title has been a recurring theme. Over the many years, the Marcoses have sought to focus on younger voters with no reminiscence of martial legislation or the torture and killing of political prisoners. Fifty-six % of the voting inhabitants within the Philippines is aged between 18 and 41, and most didn’t witness the atrocities of the Marcos regime — splendid circumstances for the unfold of disinformation, opponents say.
In January, Twitter stated it had eliminated greater than 300 accounts selling Mr. Marcos’s presidential bid for violating guidelines on spam and manipulation. The influential Roman Catholic Church within the Philippines stated in an announcement that it was appalled by the “historic revisionism” within the election, and “the try to delete or destroy our collective reminiscence via the seeding of lies and false narratives.”
Mr. Marcos’s spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, stated there was “no certainty” that the Twitter accounts belonged to his supporters.
Final week, Meta, Fb’s mum or dad firm, stated it had suspended greater than 400 election-related accounts, pages and teams for violating its requirements. The corporate cited a video on Mr. Marcos’s official Fb web page that falsely accused his election rival, Leni Robredo, who’s vice chairman, of dishonest within the 2016 vice-presidential race. (The president and vice chairman are elected individually within the Philippines.)
A number of teams have sought to disqualify Mr. Marcos’s candidacy, pointing to a 1995 tax evasion conviction and the $3.9 billion in property taxes that his household nonetheless owes the federal government. Mr. Marcos, 64, has disregarded the assaults as “pretend information,” and refused to take part in almost all presidential debates.
At a rally in Las Piñas, Ella Mae Alipao, 15, stated that she received most of her information about Mr. Marcos from TikTok and Fb, and that she didn’t “consider a lot in books.” After Mr. Marcos’s father was ousted, Ms. Alipao stated, “the Filipinos came upon how good he was; that’s once they realized that they need to have made him president for an extended time.”
Mr. Marcos has made comparable feedback: “I’m not going to vindicate my father’s title as a result of his title doesn’t want vindication,” he stated in 1995. “I’m so assured that historical past will decide him nicely.”
Within the 36 years because the father was ousted, many Filipinos have turn out to be disillusioned with the nation’s democracy. Poverty is widespread, earnings inequality stays excessive and few individuals belief their elected leaders. When Mr. Duterte got here to energy, he promised radical change, ushering in a brand new period of strongman politics that has been embraced by many throughout the nation.
Mr. Duterte shaped an alliance with the Marcoses early in his five-year presidential time period. In 2016, he organized for the daddy’s physique to be moved to the Philippines’ equal of Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, regardless of protests. And it was not till Sara Duterte, Ms. Duterte’s daughter, made the shock announcement that she would run for vice chairman as an alternative of president that Mr. Marcos gained his massive lead within the polls.
In current weeks, the opposition has been working furiously to counter the false narratives on-line concerning the Marcoses. Sergio Osmena III, a former political prisoner, senator and a grandson of the fourth president of the Philippines, stated he had employed 10,000 volunteers to wage a counteroffensive towards the Marcos marketing campaign by releasing movies on the financial devastation and human rights violations of the Marcos years.
“It’s in all probability too late,” he stated.
The Marcoses have been remarkably adept at avoiding jail time. Mr. Marcos was sentenced to as much as three years in jail in 1995 for tax-related convictions, however his sentence was overturned on attraction two years later, regardless that his conviction remained on the books. In 2018, his mom was sentenced to as much as 11 years in jail for creating personal foundations to cover her unexplained wealth. She posted bail, and the Supreme Courtroom continues to be reviewing her attraction.
The federal government has recovered simply $3.3 billion of the estimated $10 billion that the Marcoses are accused of stealing, however $2.4 billion in belongings are nonetheless beneath litigation, with varied teams tussling over them. Ought to Mr. Marcos win the presidency, many concern these proceedings, together with the $3.9 billion in property taxes, can be swept away, cementing the false concept that the Marcoses are harmless.
Amongst some younger voters, that view has already taken maintain. “If he’s a thief, how come he hasn’t been jailed?” requested Rjay Garcia, a 19-year-old rug salesman, at a current rally within the metropolis of Santa Rosa. Mr. Garcia stated that he believed the instances towards Mr. Marcos’s household have been meant “to destroy his repute,” and that he had “by no means heard” of the Folks Energy protests.
Even these with intimate reminiscences of the nation’s battle for democracy could really feel it’s time to transfer on.
Benjamin Abalos Jr., Mr. Marcos’s marketing campaign supervisor, led protests towards the Marcos regime as a pupil council officer of the Ateneo Legislation College. He stated he by no means talked about these days along with his candidate. “No matter justice was achieved in these 36 years, I feel that’s already sufficient,” he stated. “Maybe now it’s about shifting ahead.”
Such attitudes might sign {that a} full rehabilitation of the Marcos title could quickly be full. The household now features a governor, a senator, a mayor and a attainable congressman. Mr. Marcos’s eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander, 28, is working for a congressional seat in Ilocos Norte, the place his cousin, Matthew Marcos Manotoc, is governor.
Mr. Marcos has seized on his alliance with Ms. Duterte to current himself as a unifier who is able to lead, however his political monitor file is generally skinny.
Whereas in his six years within the Senate he helped go legal guidelines on defending older individuals and increasing emergency reduction to youngsters, almost 70 % of the 52 legal guidelines he pushed for have been on designating holidays and festivals, renaming highways and reapportioning provinces and cities, a assessment by The New York Occasions discovered.
An investigation in 2015 discovered that his résumé on the Senate web site had been embellished to incorporate a bachelor of arts from the College of Oxford. The college later stated he didn’t full his diploma, however obtained as an alternative a particular diploma in social research. Mr. Marcos has denied misrepresenting his schooling.
Although Mr. Marcos is seen because the front-runner within the Might 9 election, rallies for Ms. Robredo, the vice chairman, have drawn lots of of hundreds of younger supporters in current weeks. Hecklers have shouted “magnanakaw,” or “thief,” at Mr. Marcos’s motorcade, and the petitions to disqualify his candidacy are nonetheless beneath attraction, although specialists say they’re unlikely to succeed.
“The battle of man towards energy is the battle of reminiscence towards forgetting,” stated Ms. Ressa, the journalist, recalling a quote from the writer Milan Kundera. She described the election as a “microcosm of a worldwide battle for info.”
“If info don’t win,” she stated, “we’ll have a complete new historical past.”
The war in Gaza, which started on 7 October last year, has seen more than 41,000 Palestinians killed and decimated the Strip. Almost 100 Israelis are still being held hostage by Hamas, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive.
Thousands of people have staged protests in capitals across Europe in support of Palestine in the run-up to the first anniversary of the war on 7 October.
Huge rallies took place in several major European cities, with rallies expected to continue over the weekend and peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.
Italy
In Rome, several thousand demonstrated peacefully until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the centre of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests, citing security concerns.
Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd.
At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local media reported.
The rally in Rome had been calm earlier, with people chanting “Free Palestine, Free Lebanon,” waving Palestinian flags and holding banners calling for an immediate stop to the conflict.
United Kingdom
In London, thousands marched through the capital to Downing Street amid a heavy police presence.
The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestinian protesters and counterdemonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed one another.
Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon.
At least 17 people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences, supporting a proscribed organisation and assault, the Metropolitan Police said.
Spain
Thousands also took to the streets of Madrid to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
The protests were peaceful and there were no reported incidents of altercations with police.
“Outrage at this situation, thousands and thousands of people killed in Gaza, now in Lebanon, there are already more than 2,000, more than 10,000 people missing. This has to be stopped one way or another,” said Enrique Quintanilla from the ‘Disarm Madrid’ group.
Germany
In the northern of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags and chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a count by police.
Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.
ADVERTISEMENTSerbia
A smaller protest of around 200 people happened in Belgrade with protesters chanting “Free Palestine” and expressing their anger at their government’s support for Israel.
“The main message is that we, citizens of Serbia and Belgrade, are against arms exports to Israel. The Republic of Serbia is exporting arms to Israel. Since October 7 last year, the value of weapons exported to Israel from Serbia is at least 20 million euros. We are against that,” said protest organiser, Mihajlo Nikolic.
Rallies were also planned in several other countries across Europe including Greece, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.
Increased security
Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that the protests could turn violent.
ADVERTISEMENTPro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate cease-fire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.
A bloody year
On 7 October last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive.
ADVERTISEMENTNEW YORK (AP) — Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and saved at least one run with a sliding catch along the left-field line, boosting the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Saturday night in their AL Division Series opener.
New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins. It was the first postseason game with five lead changes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Kansas City pitchers tied their season high with eight walks, forcing in a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Yankees were just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Verdugo lined a single off loser Michael Lorenzen.
Verdugo’s hit scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled leading off and stole second on a play allowed to stand following a video review. Yankees manager Aaron Boone started Verdugo in left over rookie Jasson Domínguez in a defense-influenced decision. Verdugo entered the game in a 2-for-34 skid at the plate
With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Michael Massey’s fourth-inning fly just inside the line to strand two runners. The ball hit Verdugo’s right wrist just below his glove and bounced off his chest before he grabbed it with his bare left hand.
Chisholm, playing third base this year for the first time after the Yankees acquired him from Miami at the July trade deadline, made three fine defensive plays, two with the help of first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, starting because of Anthony Rizzo’s fractured fingers.
Four Yankees relievers combined to allow only an unearned run over four innings after ace Gerrit Cole came out, unhappy with his performance. Clay Holmes, dropped from his closer’s job last month, worked 1 2/3 innings for the win. Luke Weaver got four straight outs for the save in his postseason debut.
Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, and Royals standout Bobby Witt Jr. was 0 for 5, barking at plate umpire Adam Hamari after a called third strike in the ninth.
Juan Soto went 3 for 5 and threw out Salvador Perez in the second inning trying to score from second on Melendez’s single to right. Kansas City first baseman Yuli Gurriel threw out runners at the plate on grounders in the first and fifth.
After a day off between Games 1 and 2, the series between the AL-best Yankees and wild-card Royals resumes Monday night. These teams met in four playoffs from 1976-80, with the Yankees winning the first three and getting swept in the last.
Cole allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in five-plus innings. Royals starter Michael Wacha gave up three runs, four hits and three walks in four-plus innings.
Tommy Pham hit a second-inning sacrifice fly, and Torres put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the third with a 339-foot home run just over the right-field short porch.
Melendez’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead, but Royals pitchers issued four seven-pitch walks in the fifth, forcing in runs with walks by Angel Zerpa to Austin Wells and by John Schreiber to Anthony Volpe. The Yankees had not gotten a pair of bases-loaded walks in a postseason game since Bullet Joe Bush and Joe Dugan against the New York Giants’ Rosy Ryan in Game 6 of the 1923 World Series.
Volpe’s throwing error at shortstop set up pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson’s two-run, sixth-inning single through a drawn-in infield that put the Royals ahead 5-4. Wells’ two-out RBI single off Lorenzen tied the score in the bottom half.
UP NEXT
New York’s Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.96 ERA) starts against the Royals’ Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14) in a matchup of left-handers. Rodón made a pair of postseason appearances for the Chicago White Sox, in relief against Oakland in 2020 and a start against Houston in 2021 which he pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing Carlos Correa’s go-ahead, two-run double. Ragans won the Wild Card Series opener at Baltimore on Tuesday with six scoreless innings of four-hit ball.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
World
Netanyahu calls Macron, other Western leaders who support arms embargo against Israel a ‘disgrace’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders on Saturday who he said had called for an arms embargo on Israel over its airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side, yet President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them, “Netanyahu said in a statement.
He continued, “Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah, on the Houthis, on Hamas and on its other proxies? Of course not. This axis of terror stands together, but countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel.”
Netanyahu called their stance a “disgrace,” adding that Israel would win “with or without their support, but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
TRUMP SAYS ISRAEL SHOULD HIT IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES, SLAMMING BIDEN’S RESPONSE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, slammed French President Macron and other Western leaders on Saturday who he said had called for an arms embargo on Israel over its airstrikes against Hamas. (Reuters)
He said, “in defending ourselves against this barbarism, Israel is defending civilization against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us. Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world.”
Netanyahu noted that Israel is defending itself on seven different fronts, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, terrorists in Judea and Samaria and Iran.
On Saturday, Macron said France would no longer supply arms to Israel, although the country will continue to send missile defense equipment.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron said in an interview, according to Euro News.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said it had raided and dismantled a Hezbollah underground command complex. (Israeli Defense Forces)
Also on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had raided and dismantled a Hezbollah underground command complex in Lebanon.
“The troops entered a terror tunnel about 250 meters long, located about 300 meters from the border and not crossing into Israeli territory,” IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a press conference.
FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ISSUE WARNING AHEAD OF OCT 7 ATTACKS ANNIVERSARY
He said a kitchenette and rooms that allowed for extended stays underground along with weapons and command rooms were found inside the complex.
“These compounds were intended to be used by Hezbollah terrorists in an attack on the communities of the Galilee,” he said. “This tunnel did not cross into our territory, and yesterday we destroyed it.”
The Israel Defense Forces dismantle a terror tunnel in Lebanon. (Israel Defense Forces)
The U.S. continues to supply Israel with arms, although President Biden has spoken out against the country’s approach to its war with Gaza where tens of thousands of civilians have died.
“I think what he’s doing is a mistake,” Biden said in August, while continuing to call for a cease-fire. “I don’t agree with his approach.”
This week in a surprise appearance at a White House press briefing, Biden, in answering a reporter, said he wasn’t sure if Netanyahu was holding off on a cease-fire to influence the November election.
“Whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know – but I’m not counting on that,” Biden said. “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none, and I think he should remember that.”
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