Philippines' Marcos puts China at centre of poll campaign

Manila: President Ferdinand Marcos put Beijing firmly centre stage on the campaign trail on Saturday, saying his predecessor s administration was all...

Manila: President Ferdinand Marcos put Beijing firmly centre stage on the campaign trail on Saturday, saying his predecessor's administration was all too happy for the Philippines "to be a province of China".

Speaking in the heart of Rodrigo Duterte's stronghold Mindanao ahead of May mid-term elections, Marcos blasted the former president -- without mentioning him by name -- for everything from his deadly drug war to alleged fraud during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But it was his country's increasingly fraught relationship with China that represented a fresh line of attack.

"You will choose if we will go back to the time when our leaders wanted the Philippines to be a province of China," he told a rally in Davao del Norte province.

"None of (our candidates) are Chinese lackeys who cheered while our Coast Guard was being water-cannoned by big Chinese ships," he said.