FACT-CHECK: Bongbong Marcos’s claim that his electoral win is the biggest in the history of the Philippines needs context

CLAIM:  Bongbong Marcos’s win is the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.

RATING: MISSING CONTEXT

In his inaugural address, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. said:

That is why it reverberated and amplified as it did, to deliver the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.

This claim needs better context.

Marcos Jr. won the presidency in the 2022 presidential election by getting 31,629,783 votes or 58.77% of total votes cast.

This is indeed the biggest number of votes cast in favor of a winning presidential candidate in the electoral history of the Philippines.

However, Marcos, Jr. did not get the biggest share of the votes, percentage-wise, in a Philippine presidential election.

That distinction belongs to the late dictator, kleptocrat and namesake of the current president, Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. 

According to the Philippine Almanac of Electoral History, published in 2013 by the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office and the book “Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook”, Vol. 2 South East Asia, East Asia and the South Pacific, edited by Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz and Christof Hartmann, published in 2001 by the Oxford University Press, Marcos Sr., the standard bearer of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), won the 1981 elections, garnering 18,309,360 votes or 88 percent of the total votes cast. The runner-up, Alejo S. Santos of the Nacionalista Party – Roy Wing got only 1,716,449 or 8.3 percent of the total votes cast.

This is considered the most lopsided election in the history of the country.  However, the opposition did not participate in the election deeming the exercise a sham.

The second biggest electoral victory in the country was set by President Manuel L. Quezon when he won the 1941 election over Juan Sumulong Sr. Quezon, the standard bearer of the Nacionalista Party, got 1,340,320 votes or 81.78 percent of the total votes cast. Sumulong, the standard bearer of the Partido Democrata Nacionalista, got 298,608 votes or 18.22 percent.  

Below are the statistics of past presidential elections in the country with the winning candidates’ names in bold. Aside from the books mentioned above, figures cited came from the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines and other relevant websites.

— Rommel F. Lopez

* Numbers and percentages of the 1986 Elections are projections since the official tally as declared by the Comelec during the official canvassing at the Batasan was disputed. Figures cited in were from Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook

This fact-check was produced by PressOne.PH as part of a fact-checking grant from the Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator (PFCI) Project. The PFCI supports news organizations to allow them to meet global fact-checking standards under the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. 

PressOne.PH believes that fact-checking is essential to combating misinformation and disinformation, and in informing and educating citizens and voters. Read more of PressOne.PH’s Fact-Checking Policy by clicking here.

The public is welcome to send feedback or requests for fact-checks at factcheck@pressone.ph.