Manila – The son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos has narrowly lost the election for vice president, according to an official count that was only completed Friday, almost three weeks after polls closed.

The result dealt a blow to the political aspirations of the family, which had targeted the position for Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr as a potential stepping stone to recapturing his late father’s presidential post.

Anti-crime firebrand Rodrigo Duterte won the separate May 9 contest for president by landslide, but the closely fought vice presidential race went down the wire, with Marcos losing by around 263,000 votes to political neophyte Leni Robredo.

“The elections have been very divisive and we need to rebuild as a nation. He (Duterte) needs everyone’s help in rebuilding our country,” Robredo said over GMA television as the country’s Congress completed the tallying of election returns.

Marcos, 58, did not immediately return telephone calls made by AFP on Friday.

But his lawyer George Garcia told AFP his client was considering filing an appeal, alleging 3.9 million votes for Marcos were not reflected in the official count.

“We suspect that these votes were credited to other candidates…. We believe these votes belong to Bongbong Marcos,” Garcia added.

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AFP, Reuters

President and vice president of the Philippines are both directly elected positions.

A win for the younger Marcos would have been the family’s biggest political victory since its humiliating downfall in 1986 after a “People Power” uprising ended 20 years of the family’s rule.

The Marcos family fled to US exile 30 years ago after the revolution ended the dictator’s one-man rule, in which thousands of critics were thrown in prison and $10 billion was allegedly plundered from state coffers.

The patriarch died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, but no member of the Marcos family has been convicted.

The Marcoses have since made a surprising political comeback, rebuilding their base in the dictator’s northern bailiwick of Ilocos Norte province.

The dictator’s widow, Imelda Marcos, this month swept to a third term in the House of Representatives representing Ilocos Norte.

Her daughter, Imee Marcos, was also elected as provincial governor there for the third time.

Marcos Jnr was elected to the Senate in 2010 and his term runs out on June 30.

Robredo, 52, was thrust into politics after the 2012 plane crash death of her husband, the interior minister of incumbent President Benigno Aquino.

She served a three-year term in the House of Representatives before running for vice president under Aquino’s party.

She and Duterte are to serve single six-year terms from June 30.

Manila to auction off Marcos family’s ill-gotten gains

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AFP, Reuters

DHARAMSALA, India – The Dalai Lama urged Tibetans to remain united on Friday, telling an audience gathered for the swearing-in of his exiled people’s new leader that they must avoid the schisms that had damaged other religions.

The Buddhist spiritual leader criticised an election campaign to elect a political leader that descended into bitter personal rivalries, eclipsing any discussion about how to persuade China to grant Tibet autonomy.

“If you really consider me as your friend, then please be united irrespective of your region or religious lineage,” he told a crowd of about 2,000 monks and devotees at his temple in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, where the exiled community is based.

Exiled Tibetans re-elected Lobsang Sangay as their political leader last month, the second such election since the Dalai Lama devolved political power in 2011 in order to let a political leader further his people’s cause.

Sangay said at the ceremony, where traditional Tibetan artists sang their national anthem, that he and his rivals were sorry for failing to live up to Tibetan traditions of humility and good conduct.

The Dalai Lama and Sangay back the so-called middle way approach under which they want China to grant Tibet autonomy within China, rather than outright independence.

Formal negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives ended in 2010, and the stalemate since has cast a pall over an exiled community increasingly powerless about what to do next.

China, which does not recognise Sangay’s self-proclaimed government in exile, describes the incorporation of Tibet into China’s territory in 1951 as a “peaceful liberation”. It says the region already enjoys genuine autonomy.

Sangay, a Harvard-educated lawyer, has pledged to press the international community to renew its interest in his people’s plight, as China’s growing economic might slowly pushes the Tibetan cause out of the limelight.

The Dalai Lama, 80, has been denied audiences with several world leaders in recent years, including the Pope.

Life in Tibet

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China Daily/ANN