Philippine election body to decide if Marcos Jr can run for Presidency

The 22-year rule of President Ferdinand Marcus is today considered a brutal and divisive period in Philippine history. A people power revolution forced him from office and into exile in 1986, but decades later his son Ferdinand Marcus Jr., also known as Bongbong, is a front. -runner in this year's presidential

election

my intention to run may seem surprising to many, but the political resurgence of the marcus did not happen in an instant experts say the marcus have spent years using social media to rewrite history memes on line like this one from new zealand prime minister jacinta adern praising bonbon marcus jr or american basketball superstar michael jordan receiving a box of bread from the late president have dominated online chat groups, even the marcus are said to be giving away tons of gold bars and other treasures if bongbong becomes president hoard that fact-checkers and journalists say does not exist, but the story has already spread widely on social media even after Twitter announced last week that it had suspended hundreds of pro-marcus accounts.

I think it is also important to consider the desperation of many poor Filipinos and that economic and social desperation their needs the pandemic has exacerbated that and this is just demarco says exploiting that desperation by making Filipinos believe that there is a quick way out of poverty by jazeera requested an interview with mr marcus' campaign team no response marcus camp has repeatedly denied owning troll farms on social media we know social media has very low verifiability

philippine

s once a shining star of democracy in Asia, now called the country in decline The Philippines is the largest user of Facebook in Southeast Asia and the sixth in the world Researchers say that the greater the population's exposure to social networks, the greater their vulnerability to the misinformation.

This information, they say, has the power to override people's ability to distinguish what is real and what is not. jemela allendogen al jazeera manila