May 9, 2022

MANILA, May 9 (Reuters) - Polls opened in the Philippines on Monday in the country's most divisive presidential election in decades, with the prospect of a once-unthinkable return to rule of the Marcos family, 36 years after they were toppled in a "people power" uprising.

The election pits Vice President Leni Robredo against former senator and congressman Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of a dictator whose two decade rule ended in a public revolt and his family's humiliating retreat into exile.

Opinion polls put Marcos, popularly known as "Bongbong", leading his rival by over 30 percentage points, having topped every poll this year. That means Robredo will need a late surge or low turnout if she is to win the presidency.

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