CLAIM: Marcos Jr. received the biggest electoral mandate in Philippine history
Rating: FALSE
The Facts: Ferdinand “BongBong” Marcos Jr. claimed in his inaugural speech that he had the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.
“When my call for unity started to resonate with you, it did so because it echoed your yearnings, mirrored your sentiments, and expressed your hopes for family, for country, and for a better future. That is why it reverberated and amplified as it did to deliver the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.”
Journalist John Nery discusses in a panel that electoral mandates are not based on the actual number of votes a candidate garners in the elections, but are based on the percentage of votes a candidate receives against the total number of votes in the country.
The population of the Philippines increases with every election, thus the number of votes distributed among each candidate also increases.
The Philippine Electoral Almanac lists three presidents over four elections who received bigger electoral mandates than Marcos Jr.’s. They are Manuel L. Quezon, who got 67.99% in the 1935 elections and 81.78% in the 1941 elections, Ramon Magsaysay with 68.9% in the 1653 elections, and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. with 61.74% in the 1969 elections.
Marcos Jr. received an electoral mandate of 58.77% in the 2022 presidential elections.
Why we fact-checked this: Minutes after Marcos Jr. took his oath and swore on the Bible, he broke commandment number 9, which is “Thou shall not bear false witness” or simply put, one should not lie. As President of the Philippines, he should be a beacon of moral integrity.
Photo by Aaron Favila/AP.
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