At noon of June 30, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. formally assumed as the 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines at the National Museum, Metro Manila.
Supreme Court chief justice Alexander Gesmundo officiated the oath and was witnessed by the President’s wife, lawyer Liza Araneta-Marcos and sons, Ferdinand Alexander, Joseph Simon, and William Vincent.
Marcos Jr. succeeded in the highest position of the country from outgoing President Rodrigo R. Duterte whom he met at Malacañan Palace before taking the oath.
In his inaugural address, the President acknowledged the resounding call of the Filipino people who chose and gave him the mandate to serve for the next six years.
“You picked me to be your servant, to enable changes to benefit all. I fully understand the gravity of the responsibility you’ve put on my shoulders. I do not take it lightly but I am ready for the task,” Pres. Marcos said.
He also asked for the support of the people like the battle cry of his campaign during the May 2022 polls – unity.
Marcos also tackled in his speech various issues and concerns that currently affect the country and presented initial steps to course solutions to such.
“I did not talk much in this campaign. I did not bother to think of rebutting my rivals. Instead, I searched for promising approaches better than the usual solutions. I listened to you. I did not lecture you about who has the biggest stake in our success and the forthcoming State of the Nation will tell you exactly how we shall get this done,” he stressed.
To note, one of these is with the agriculture sector where he earlier also expressed that he will temporarily lead the agriculture department until the appointment of the most fitting he sees to do the job.
“And if you asked me why am I so confident of the future? I will answer you simply that I have 110 million reasons to start with such is my faith in the Filipinos,” the president concluded.
Present also during the inauguration were Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, former Presidents Joseph E. Estrada and Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, members of the diplomatic corps and other foreign dignitaries, and other officials of the government.
It can be recalled that Marcos Jr. received the overwhelming 31,629,783 votes or 58.77% of the total votes cast during the recent polls.
Prior to serving the highest post in the country, Marcos Jr. had been the vice governor (1980-1983) and governor (1983-1986 and 1998-2007) of Ilocos Norte province, representative of the 2nd district of Ilocos Norte (1992-1995 and 2007-2010), and senator (2010-2016). (AAL/FRG/PIA6)
