Game over. Marcos Jr. wins.

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 10 May 2022 by Romeo Bernardo

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The unofficial, partial tally as of the afternoon of May 10 showed Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. garnering over 30 million votes, equivalent to an almost 60% share. His closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo who received less than half his votes had said, in what sounded like a concession statement, that “…the voice of the people is becoming clearer and clearer. For the sake of the Philippines, we need to listen to this voice.” Mr. Marcos, who had yet to claim victory as of this writing, opted to merely thank supporters in his first post-election speech. Although the local business community has come to expect business as usual under a Marcos 2.0 regime, foreign press coverage of the family’s return to power after 36 years is still one of incredulity that could only sideline international investors in the short-term. As it is, Mr. Marcos’s victory coincides with another rout in global equity markets following renewed anxieties over a long string of worries: rising inflation and slowing growth, US Fed rate hikes and tighter financial conditions in a world of high debts, China’s prolonged lockdown and impact on supply chains and growth, the war in Ukraine and its fallout on global energy and food prices, among others. Local equities today mirrored the decline most everywhere else with the benchmark index falling by 0.6% to close at 6,721. As we have said previously, it does not help that Mr. Marcos has yet to present a coherent economic plan that foreign investors could buy into, i.e., one that concretely addresses the economy’s post-covid medium-term recovery and growth needs and explicitly recognizes government’s more limited fiscal space and the less favorable global econ...