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Rival wants ‘fake’ Marcos gone

Ferdinand ‘‘Bongbong’’ Marcos, son of the late dictator of the Philippines, died years ago and has been replaced by an impostor, according to a complaint lodged with the country’s electoral commission.

The claim, for which there is no evidence, is the most bizarre among several efforts to have Marcos, 64, blocked from standing in next year’s presidential election.

The story that Bongbong Marcos was killed in a knife fight as a young man has circulated for years, and he himself has spoken about it.

‘‘That conspiracy theory has been going on for a long time,’’ he said in a video message. ‘‘Even my old friends who have not seen me for a long time will double-check if I am indeed the real Marcos. Really, this is I!’’

The claim has been filed by a man named Tiburcio Villamor Marcos, who is also standing for president.

TVM, as he calls himself, claims not only to be the son of the late dictator and a Spanish princess but also a ‘‘seven-star governor-general of the United Nations’’ and ‘‘royal king of the Philippine Islands with 13 regions with multitrillion tonnes of gold, silver, diamond, and platinum’’.

Such assertions are certain to cause the election commission to exclude TVM as a ‘‘nuisance candidate’’ when it scrutinises would-be presidents this month.

More troubling for Bongbong Marcos are the efforts to block him brought by former political prisoners and the families of those ‘‘disappeared’’ by his father’s regime.

They are appealing for him to be barred from standing because he was found guilty of tax dodging in 1995. An obscure law imposed by his own father excludes anyone with such a conviction from public office. – The Times

World

en-nz

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281758452573563

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