WHY BONGBONG MARCOS LOST

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

(Author's Note: I wrote the following observations four or five days after the May 9 presidential election. By that time, it was clear that Rep. Leni Robredo, a virtual political neophyte, won over veteran Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., the son of the toppled dictator bearing the same name. There were too many opinions, mostly suffocating. I tried to explain her come-from- behind victory from a different lens. As expected, Bongbong Marcos cried he was cheated, giving credence to the old saying that the country has only two kinds of candidates: the winners and the whiners.)  

Political pundits, or those people of supreme erudition, who like to fancy themselves as "political analysts," or "anals" as the late opinion writer Neal Cruz derisively called them, would probably ascribe various reasons for the loss of vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos . 

The list of reasons keeps on getting longer in the coming days ahead. There are too many excuses. Bongbong Marcos himself has refused to concede.

In fact, he plans to lodge an official protest electoral fraud.

He has even advanced the ridiculous theory that he was cheated of three million votes ,, which is enough for any sane person to laugh at his heart's content.  

But I only have a single take. 

Bongbong lost because he has failed to create his own political identity; He has lived under  the shadow of his infamous father. 

I remember asking Bongbong in a forum sometime in April, 2010, or during the political campaign of the 2010 presidential elections. That was when he was running for senator.

I asked him if seeking a vindication for his father was his reason for running for senator. He answered in the negative. 

Bongbong Marcos told the audience that his decision to run for senator was to pursue his own reform agenda, which included greater autonomy for local government units. 

As a former Ilocos Norte governor, he saw the need for more reforms on local governance. 

I strongly doubt he had come out with his reforms envisioned in his six-year stint in the Senate. His record at the Senate is not something he could be proud.

In the last political campaign, people saw him as the son of Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator, not a Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as a distinct political leader, who has carved his own political identity and therefore could stand on his own. 

Many people remembered the past and, of course, the sins of his father. Anti-Marcos activists suddenly came out of the blue to pursue an organized negative campaign against his candidacy.

Bongbong Marcos had refused to answer and confront them. 

What the people saw was not just a mediocre son of an infamous dictator, but a remorseless one too. 

He had his loss coming.