″We hope he is just like his father,” says Marie Leonara DeAsis, as she reflects fondly on the two decades of rule by Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Today she will vote for his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos jnr, for president, citing better housing, less crime and more food that Marcos snr provided her family who live in the Tonto ghetto in inner Manila.

About 67 million Filipinos are registered to vote today for the next president, vice-president, a swag of parliamentarians and some 18,000 others including mayors and governors.