 The Philippines is set to go to polls on May 9 to elect the President and Vice President. The people will also be electing other government officials including 12 senators, 300 lower House legislators and around 18,000 local level officials including mayors, governors and their deputies. 67.5 million people out of a total population of 110 million are eligible to vote. What is at stake in these elections? According to opinion polls, presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his running mate Sara Duterte are currently enjoying a comfortable lead over their opponents. Marcos Jr or Bong Bong as he is popularly known is the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos whose regime lasted 14 years. During these 14 years, widespread human rights violations and political repression were common. Rights groups have documented over 3,000 extrajudicial killings, more than 35,000 instances of torture and over 70,000 political imprisonments in this period. During his father's rule, Marcos Jr enjoyed a position of a governor. He was part of his father's martial law government that committed plunder, human rights violations and corruption. By some estimate, Marcos Sr. plundered 10 billion dollars of the country's wealth with the help of his immediate family, relatives and close associates. Sara Duterte meanwhile is the daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte's presidency has also been marked with a similar record of human rights atrocities and repression of dissenting voices. Human rights groups in the country have warned that the alliance between Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte represents the unity of the most rotten, undemocratic and anti-people forces in the country. They have warned that the victory of the duo will result in a continuity of the current Duterte era policies of impunity, extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, red tagging and attacks on people's rights. And yet, the two seem set to win the elections. What explains their popularity? A massive disinformation campaign. In the run up to the elections, Marcos Jr's team has mounted an aggressive social media campaign to completely reconstruct the image and reputation of the Marcos family. These rebranding efforts have in fact been underway for years. A large chunk of Filipinos, particularly among the youth, have been convinced that the Marcos regime was the golden era for the Philippines. This messaging is being carried out with the help of real and fake profiles on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, etc. A striking example of this is the explanation for the massive ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family. A popular narrative now is that Marcos Sr. was not corrupt. He was given tons of gold by the Talano royal family of the Maharlika Kingdom for his legal services. But the Talano royal family, or the Maharlika Kingdom, have never existed. This story has been widely debunked, still it continues to be popular. Other such false claims include that the Philippines was the third largest economy in this time. It was a period of prosperity and development, etc. There are two key reasons behind the success of this campaign. One is the fall in the trust among people in traditional media as well as the general weakening of institutions such as the judiciary and media in the country. The other is that there are no rules in the country to regulate the use of social media and election campaigns. All of this has played in favour of the Marcos III team. The strongest contender to this campaign is the presidential bid of the current vice president Lenny Robredo. Robredo is a staunch liberal and many have their hopes pinned on her victory to keep another Marcos from coming to power. Robredo is trailing second in the polls via a significant margin. Against the widespread online disinformation, Robredo's supporters have been leading a national-level door-to-door campaign, something that is unusual for its scale. Robredo's army of nearly 2 million volunteers known as Kakaam pinks, which means pink allies, have been organising rallies across the country. She has been endorsed by progressive sections and various civil societies and leaders. However, Robredo's positions remain vague on some important policy issues. For instance, the Anti-Terror Act. This law was brought in by the Rodrigo Duterte government during the pandemic and has been widely used to crack down on political dissent and as a tool for red tagging. Human rights defenders view it as a serious threat to civil liberties. Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte are in favour of this law. Meanwhile, Robredo has also not talked about repealing this draconian law. She has stated that any anti-terror legislation should not be used as a pretext to cipheral freedom of expression or legitimate dissent. Other policy packages promised by Robredo are a similar mixed bag. Some are progressive while others are a continuation of Duterte era laws. She has put forward socially conservative positions being opposed to same-sex marriages and right to abortion. Among the slate of candidates, there is also Labour leader, Leo D. the Guzman. He is a trade unionist which is campaigning on a socialist platform. It is after a long time that such a candidacy has been given space in this country. Guzman has vowed to implement a Labour first policy if he wins. Among his key platforms are the promises of ending contractualisation and raising minimum wage. All these liberal and progressive opposition candidates faced with a dominant Marcos Duterte campaign are supporting each other in various ways. An alliance can be seen emerging among them. Many observers have expressed the fear that a Marcos Duterte regime will continue the weakening of institutions that began during Rodrigo Duterte's presidency. However, progressive movements are resolute to continuing the fight for democracy. Survivors of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship years have reminded that the people had risen up back then to defeat the regime and that the Marcos cable is not unconquerable.