Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., commonly known as Bongbong Marcos or by his initials BBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since June 30, 2022. Born on September 13, 1957, in Batac, Ilocos Norte, he is the only son and namesake of the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos. His upbringing was defined by his family’s prominent role in Philippine politics, as his father served as president from 1965 to 1986, a period marked by authoritarian rule and eventually concluded by the 1986 People Power Revolution. Marcos’s early education began in the Philippines at La Salle Greenhills. He later attended Worth School in West Sussex, England, where he completed his secondary education in 1974. He subsequently enrolled at the University of Oxford, where he received a Special Diploma in Social Studies in 1978. Following his time in the United Kingdom, he attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, though he did not complete the degree program, having been elected to government office in the Philippines. His political career began in 1980 at the age of 23, when he was elected vice governor of his home province, Ilocos Norte. He served in that capacity until 1983, after which he became the governor of Ilocos Norte, a position he held until the Marcos family was ousted from power and sent into exile in Hawaii in February 1986 following the popular uprising against his father’s regime. Following the death of his father in 1989 and the subsequent permission from the Philippine government for the Marcos family to return, Marcos arrived back in the Philippines in 1991. He resumed his political career by serving as a member of the House of Representatives for the second district of Ilocos Norte from 1992 to 1995. He later returned to the governorship of Ilocos Norte, serving three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2007, before again serving in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2010. In 2010, he was elected to the Senate of the Philippines, where he served a single six-year term until 2016. In the 2016 national elections, he ran for the vice presidency but was narrowly defeated by Leni Robredo. In 2021, Marcos announced his candidacy for the presidency under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas. His campaign, centered on a platform of national unity, resonated with a significant portion of the electorate, and he won the 2022 presidential election by a landslide, securing nearly 59% of the vote. Since his inauguration on June 30, 2022, his administration has focused on post-pandemic economic recovery, the implementation of the "Build Better More" infrastructure program, and the establishment of the Maharlika Investment Fund. His foreign policy has notably involved a strategic realignment toward closer ties with the United States, shifting from the pivot toward China seen during the previous administration. Marcos is married to lawyer Louise "Liza" Araneta-Marcos, and they have three sons: Ferdinand Alexander "Sandro," Joseph Simon, and William Vincent. His presidency remains a subject of intense public discourse, reflecting the complex and often polarizing legacy associated with the Marcos family name in contemporary Philippine history.