Transcription
I am here not to talk about the past. I'm here to tell you about our future. Son of a dictator and heir to the Philippines' most famous political dynasty veteran, Bongbong Marcos Jr was born into poverty.
I met Chairman Mao when I was 16 years old. I've met all of the secretary generals of the U.N.. I've met all the presidents of the United States. President Nixon, when he came here, gave me the first commercial ticket to fly to the moon.
Decades later, he has retired to claim the office his father held. But with two years left in a single six year term, President Marcos faces daunting economic challenges, intensified by global instability and the Iran war, while contending with a shadow of his father's rule, one marred by corruption, abuses of power and martial law, ending in his family's exile. The window is closing to establish a legacy that stands on its own.
We're here at Malacanang, the Philippine presidential palace compound. No president has lived here since 2010. But this is where President Marcos Jr grew up. And this very area around Kalayaan Hall was where his family fled from. Back in 1986, 40 years on, in a historic turn of events, this is now where he conducts the nation's affairs. His office is upstairs. Come with me.
Okay. I. I think you're at a pivotal moment in your presidency, four years into a six year term. On reflection. How has it been navigating the last four years? Has anything been more challenging than you thought it was going to be?
I had the advantage of watching my father being president, and I always knew it was going to be difficult. The nature of the job really is not different. You have a great deal of work to do. All of it is fairly urgent. Everything is important. That has not really changed. It's the things that you worry about, the issues that you worry about. Those have changed. The added challenge, of course, comes from the Iran war.
We know that Filipinos now are grappling with higher cost of fuel. Yes. Is there a reason to think, or are you concerned perhaps, that they could take to the street if fuel prices were to remain high?
That's exactly what's going to happen. It is happening. So that's why the government is now providing subsidies for fuel subsidies and just straight out cash subsidies to the operators, to the drivers, the whole gamut of them, which is the ships, the buses, the public transport in the cities, the delivery systems. All of these people have to be subsidized so that the actual end consumer feels the rise in fuel prices as little as possible, given the volatility in the energy market, given the geopolitical chaos.
Is there a reason to think that there needs to be a reset in relations with China?
I think it's going certainly going to happen. I don't think that it's like an option that's, uh, it's happening now. There's going to be a very, very serious restructuring.
Is there a reason to think that maybe it is a good idea to have a partnership in developing the gas resources in the disputed areas in the South China Sea?
That's something that we've been talking about for a great deal. Uh, but the territorial disputes will get in the way of that, that maybe this will be provides impetus for both sides to come to an agreement. That's something that we are, of course, exploring, like I said. Everything that that might be of of help. We are certainly pursuing.
One of the key challenges is the economy. The Philippines used to be one of the fastest growing in the region. Can you get GDP back above six?
Yes, we believe we can. However, with but the war in the Middle East, those have to be redrawn. Everything has to be redrawn. There's the uncertainty and the lack of stability is going to factor into that. That's the general risk factor is still there. And that's not going to diminish immediately. That's going to taper off.
But how do you get to above 6%. What is the strategy.
What's needed of course is investment. Because when it comes to when it comes to production, our largest, uh, export in dollar terms is, uh, semiconductors. We have now moved the way up the value chain from just pure fabrication to design. And that has put us in a very good position for, uh, the advent of data centers. Uh, I, we have restructured even our tax incentives for investors. The ease of doing business is something that we've been working very hard on. To bring down the cost of transportation, for example, to digitalized digitalization is key to everything that we are doing because that makes everything much easier, makes things cheaper if done right. This, uh, possibility potential for for abuse. Right. You remove the discretion in the decision making process.
The other part that we immediately identified, because in our economy, what we always consider our greatest asset is our workforce. We have a relatively young workforce. We have a workforce that is used to working with foreign entities because of our diaspora. They are relatively well trained, but we have to do the reskilling and the upskilling. We also have changed our system of education in a way. The new technologies, the new kinds of skills that are required. So to be sure, you can attain more than 6% growth by the end of your presidency.
I think so, yes. Oh, about 8% growth. In our last conversation, you didn't mention that in those weeks. We were we we we were hoping to get to 7% by this time. I think we could have managed it. Um, except for, uh, this this, uh, these shocks that are coming in. So 8% is no longer viable. I it's a tough that will be a tough. That's a tough number to get to.
Up next, keeping infrastructure ambitions on track and a political rivalry which could derail Marcos's legacy. Walking with the after work crowd in Manila. Is. It's a symphony for the senses. The people, the traffic, the sounds. Evening rush hour. Here is a bit of an adventure for most people.
According to government estimates, the Philippines loses some 8 billion every year to know of its activity, higher operating costs and health impacts. President Marcos Jr is promising to get things in motion by charging ahead with massive infrastructure investments, including extending subway and rail lines to the whole country. But scandals around building projects during his time have become road bumps. And until those clear up, it might be hard to get the streets and the Philippine economy moving.
From commerce to increase, to become more active. You have to provide the means of conducting that. Commerce and infrastructure is key to that. We think now about digital infrastructure as well. And that's why that has become such an important part of what we do when we talk about development in the Philippines, we talk about infrastructure as the basis upon which the private sector can build on up, on which the educational sector can build on, and competition in terms of labor, in terms of workforces, in terms of all the new industries. The infrastructure has to be there. Of course, doesn't mean that we are neglecting roads and bridges and transport systems. Rail, for example, has been one of the biggest areas we have tried to develop. We have the North-South corridor that we are developing now, and the rail systems were going to be very important. And then for commerce, for for private businesses. The costs that you have to bring down the costs for you to be an attractive investment destination. The cost of doing business, the ease of doing business, hence the cost of doing business must be competitive. And we have to work hard on that. And we have been.
But fast track tracking growth comes with risks. The IMF warned that 14% of the workforce in the Philippines, some 7 million people risk losing their livelihoods because of I, including in the service sectors. You talk about the digital economy? AI comes into play. It has the potential to disrupt a lot of jobs. And when you take a look at the BPO industry in particular, it employs a huge number of the middle class. How prepared are you in terms of jobs disruption?
60% of our economy is of service, is in services and those service jobs will not go away. So whatever employment will go down, perhaps BPO and things like that, that will go in the in the service industries. We've always been strong in terms of services, uh, in the Philippines, not only locally, even abroad. And so that's where we hope to to compensate. So I is more of an opportunity for the Philippines as opposed to a threat. It's a balance thing. I mean, it's like I say is like any powerful tool. It cuts both ways. You have to consciously do things to anticipate the changes in the employment patterns.
It's not just jobs that have put pressure on the president. In 2025, an audit showed that hundreds of government funded flood control projects were paid for and marked completed in reality. The report said many of them were never built or shoddily done. Accusations of crony capitalism have haunted him since.
Infrastructure can be controversial. Oh yes, we're seeing how billions of dollars have been lost. Yes, because of dodgy infrastructure projects. We know that you have reshuffled your cabinet because of some of those projects, but you have yet to hold accountable and punish those, especially in the high ranking positions. Where are you with that?
I actually was the one who brought this to light, and we formed the ICC, which was the infrastructure, uh, council that was going to gather the information and investigate all of this. They have finished their work and all of the information that they have put together, all the data that they have put together, they have now forwarded to our Justice Department's. Our Ombudsman for the government examines the government, the workers who are involved, and the DOJ or Department of Justice, those who are not in government. And that work is proceeding. And I think in the next weeks that come to fruition, uh, it takes two. It takes far too long. We would we would have liked it to be to be much quicker.
When you take a look at the corruption ranking of the Philippines, which is the lowest ranking the Philippines has had in its history. How do you counter that?
That's only because we've exposed it. It's the process of strengthening institutions in a very real sense, and that's what we are doing. And in terms of the judiciary, in terms of government function, in terms of the law enforcement, in terms of, uh, bringing people to justice, all of these things are really just started the last year and a half. This is ongoing and we're changing it and doing something about it, and we're going to make it nothing.
He tried to reform the Constitution. You failed. Some of your opponents said that it was a way to hang on to power, whatever the case may be, what are the limitations of the current Constitution and the impact on the economy?
Look at the more successful economies in the region. The key to their success is continuity. But the way our Constitution is written, it actually encourages a lack of continuity. And that's a problem. The turnout for local government is three years. When I was a congressman, I first became a congressman. It takes you a few months to learn the business, as it were, and to make your connections to network, etc.. Okay. If, for example, you you're not particularly favored in the majority passing a law in a year, a year and a half, it's not that easy to do. After that period, let's say after about a year and a half approaching two years, you already hear that there's somebody in your district beginning to campaign and they are going to oppose you in the next election. So you have to go back to your district to take care of that. And how much work do you get done? We still have, uh, what I call the small town attitude, but it actually extends even at the national level. When I come into office, everything my predecessor did was wrong. Because you can think that these programs get stopped because. No, I have my own better program, and they're not necessarily better. So there's that. There's just stop and go that I think really, really gets in the way of continuity, I think is the key. And that is the only way for us to strengthen our institutions. Look at the more developed democracies. Whatever happens in politics, government continues to function. Politics can overshadow policy.
What began as an uneasy alliance with Vice President Sara to today has developed into open rivalry. Yes, I am going to head because we are led by a person who doesn't know how to be a president and who is a liar. She is the daughter of the previous president, Rodrigo Duterte. We will eliminate the drug lords once and for all, who now faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court of a deadly war on drugs. The former president to face charges and the Marcos government played a key role in allowing his arrest in March. That is now. And the vice president herself has been impeached twice under the current administration. He said about domestic politics that's been pretty much defined by the warring of the two most powerful families in the country, Marcos de Tonti. Is there any chance I amending of ties?
Well, I don't see it as a war. I'm not conducting any war or political war against anyone. I'm just trying to do my job. It is par for the course that you will be at that, uh, that you will be criticized. Only worry about is work. All of our most national development. All of you worry about sustainability. I worry about jobs. I worry about the economy. I worry about people's lives, safety, etc. everyone is saying there's elections in a couple of years. Uh, and of course we have to attend to that. But I think it is not entirely accurate to describe that there's a war between there's the war, there are warring families. The response is really to leave politics aside because it's the work of national development is a billion times more important.
Was it a mistake to run on the same ticket as Sara did today?
No, I don't think so. I think it was for the time that it was. That was the best thing that we would do. We had the same idea of what needed to be done in government. Maybe that's changed. But if you look at it in the context of that period, I think that was the right thing to do.
Still, Sara remains very popular. Yes. If she were to come to power, are you concerned that perhaps some of your policies might be reversed?
Yes. Very much. That is a great worry for them because we have just done that. And these are big things that we are trying to do. We're changing the whole way that we govern. We are trying to reform the bureaucracy. These things don't get done instantly and it's very, very easy to go off the rails. It is continuity that we we aspire for, that we dream of, that we work for and that continuity has to go on. Otherwise we will go back to doing business the old way.
Up next on latitude, tunneling into the past and a zoom out to the future, we asked the president what he wants to be remembered for. In the earlier Marcos era will largely be remembered for two things images of a confident and glamorous Philippines, a player on the global stage, and then a darker side. On that fateful morning of September 23rd, 1972, when I announced the proclamation of martial law. Of the 20 years, Marcos senior presided over the nation. More than eight were under martial law. Thousands were arrested without due process. Opponents were brutally suppressed, and over time, even the promise of economic progress fell to corruption and debt. Eventually, the poverty and inequality erupted into revolution. And on the night of February 25th, 1986, the family fled into exile in Hawaii. President Marcos junior was 28 years old.
Did you then understood the idea of privilege? Who? Your father. Oh, very quickly. Oh, very, very quickly. Because my father and my mother make very sure you are not entitled to anything. They don't ever think that they owe you. Nobody owes you anything. And that was a lesson that they hammered into us over and over again.
The Marcos name has a complex history. Oh, yes. Yeah. Some people attribute the name to the Golden Age of the Philippines. Others say it is about martial law suppression. Sure. How do you define that period in the Philippine history?
Politics by nature, uh, is, uh, polarizing. And so there will be those different schools of thought. But if you look at actual governance and performance, and when the when the Philippines was, uh, progressed into the modern world, I think we can ascribe that period to the time of my father. No, the politics intruded. Uh, towards the end to still defined many of, uh, the way that many people still think about.
Are you a different president from your father?
I have to be. It's a different time. There's fundamental lessons that I still hold close to my heart. But in terms of the practical things that you do, very few of those things apply any longer.
How is mom?
She. Oh, she's she's in her 90s. Yeah, but I always say she's 95 years old. She didn't get the memo. She doesn't cheat. She doesn't believe she's 95 and she's still very active. I mean, I still get calls from her, and she says. She says, you need to do this. You need to do that. So she tried to advise you, even as president of the Philippines, to think constantly. And, you know, I always learn something new with my mom in my family. She's the real politician. And she said, naturally, my father was an intellect. He was a statesman. We always said that he lived in his head. You know, it was very, very, very deep thinker. That's just what I learned. My mother, on the other hand, she has this uncanny ability to connect with any kind of person, any person she runs into in the street. Kings. Presidents. Anyone? Her childhood friend. She doesn't know how to fight. She's very bad at conflict. She's known for the glitzy dinners for celebrities like Prince Charles and Muhammad Ali.
Do you remember those days?
Oh, sure. Especially when we were studying abroad. She would take us on trips and pull this out of school. Uh, but then you got to hate these people. Look, for example, the first trip of the government of the Philippines to the People's Republic of China was in 1974. She brought me with her. I was 16. I met Chairman Mao when I was 16 years old. I've met all of the Secretary-General of the UN. I've met all the presidents of the United States. I've met most of the heads of states, Asean and Asia. President Nixon, when he came here, gave me the first commercial ticket to fly to the moon because he knew I was interested in all that. So, you know, these are remarkable experiences. I am a lucky, lucky person. I mean, I always say that I hope all the people that I know, I'm the luckiest person that I know.
And when you take a look at the Philippines today and future generations, what would you like them to take away from your years in office?
That I said that I was true to my principles of, again, duty, honor, country history is always kind of been the contemporary. When it's written, I hope that shines through. Noble. I want it to serve because it's my duty. And I served with honor. And they serve my country.