HIGHLIGHTS: Inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as Philippine president

Claim: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. got the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Other former presidents got bigger electoral mandates, which is measured by the percentage of the votes that they got, not the number of votes.

Why we fact-checked this: Marcos made this claim during his inaugural speech on Thursday, June 30, 2022.

Read the detailed fact check here. 

LOOK: Vice President Sara Duterte arrives at Malacañang pic.twitter.com/di37a66HOD

— Aika Rey (@reyaika) June 30, 2022

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The inaugural speech of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. appeared to be well-written as it captured the Filipino psyche, but Rappler’s Lian Buan has a few reservations.

“I am guarded about how I feel because they have a tendency to make you feel good when you’re listening to them,” Buan, who covered the Marcos campaign, said.

The 25-minute speech, she recalled, was similar to the effect conveyed by short videos on social media, particularly on TikTok, that sought to clean up the image of the Marcos family over the years since being forced into exile in 1986. 

“[The videos] makes you forget the repressive Marcos regime, and that was [what] the speech [was] like, and I guess they have mastered that art,” she said during Rappler’s special panel for the Marcos inauguration.

“It’s a signal to all of us to be careful, guarded, and vigilant about the next six years,” Buan said. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ended his inaugural speech with a promise of hope and a commitment to work his hardest in the service of the Filipino people.

“Whatever is in a person to make changes for the better of others, I lay before you now in my commitment. I will try to spare you. You have your other responsibilities to carry, but I will not spare myself from shedding the last bead of sweat or giving the last ounce of courage and sacrifice. And if you ask me why I am so confident of the future, I will answer you simply that I have won 110 million reasons to start with, such is my faith in the Filipino,” said Marcos. 

“Believe, have hope. The sun also rises like it did and it will tomorrow. And as surely as that, we will achieve the country all Filipinos deserve. God bless the Philippines. God bless our work,” added the President.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said there were “shortcomings” in the pandemic response of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. The Duterte government drew widespread flak for mismanaging the pandemic. Marcos promises to fix these issues and vows not to keep any secrets from the public. 

Marcos was among the first prominent Filipino politicians to get infected with the coronavirus. He tested positive in March 2020. 

“We will not be caught unprepared, unequipped, and understaffed to fight the next pandemic. To start with, we never got over the pandemic of poor if any free public health. The last major upgrade of a public health system exemplified by the resources poured into PGH (Philippine General Hospital) predates the current shambles by three generations,” said Marcos.

“There were shortcomings in the pandemic response. We will fix them…. No more secrets in public health. Remember: I speak from experience. I was among the first to get COVID. It was not a walk in the park,” he added.