New Philippines president seeks to restore unity

NEW YORK: Looking to reintroduce the Philippines to the world, new President Ferdinand Marcos JrMarcos Jr has ambitious plans for his nation on the international stage and at home if the twin spectres of the pandemic and climate change can be overcome or at least managed.

If he can't overcome the legacies of two people, his predecessor and his father.

He wants to strengthen ties with both the United States and China - a delicate balancing act for the Southeast Asian nation - and like many of his fellow leaders at the United Nations this week, he called on countries that have caused global warming to help less wealthy nations counteract its effects.

Marcos, who swept into office this spring, is already drawing distinctions between himself and his voluble predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who alienated many international partners with his violent approach to fighting drug trafficking and the coarse rhetoric he used to galvanise supporters.

Marcos redirected the criticism toward those who carried out the plan when he was asked if Duterte went too far with his lethal drug crackdown.

Marcos told The Associated Press on Friday that his people went too far sometimes. We have seen many cases where policemen, other operatives, were just shady characters that we didn't know where they came from and who they were working for. We've gone after them now. Marcos, 65, sat in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's annual leaders meeting. Three months into his administration, he seemed energetic and enthusiastic and eager to project his vision for the nation beyond its borders.

He met with US President Joe Biden on Thursday in a bid to strengthen the sometimes complicated relationships that have ebbed and flowed between the two nations since the Philippines spent four decades as an American colony in the early 20th century.

Marcos said bits and pieces had been pieces that were not perhaps ideal. That overall trajectory has been to strengthen and strengthen our relationship in the end. In addition to Duterte, Marcos has to draw distinctions between himself and the most iconic figure in the Philippine public sphere, his late father, whose name he shares. Ferdinand Marcos SrMarcos Sr ruled from the 1960s to the 1980s, including a tumultuous period of martial law and repression. He made the family reputation an indelible part of Filipino history.

The son has been loath to address the family legacy directly, even though he vehemently rejects the use of the term dictator to describe his father's rule. To him, the political baggage of his parents is a remnant of the past.

He said that I did not indulge in any political back- and forth regarding the Marcos family. What do you want to do to get into a better place? People responded. He said that engagement would have been a retread and unnecessary. It doesn't help. He said it doesn't change anything. What is the point? In 1972, the Philippines was put under martial law by the elder Marcos, a year before his term was to end. He padlocked Congress and newspaper offices, ordered the arrest of political opponents and activists and ruled by decree. Thousands of Filipinos disappeared under his rule and some have never been accounted for.

Marcos is a nuanced political line when it comes to his predecessor. Duterte's in-your- face rule can benefit him at home and internationally, but Duterte's popularity helped catapult him into office, and the former president's daughter Sara is Marcos' vice president.