Marcos’s rule is described as one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history MANILA: Former Philippine Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, on Thursday denied media reports that he is seeking the services of controversial political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to rebrand his family’s image on social media. Marcos Jr.’s lawyer Vic Rodriguez said his client is looking to file libel charges against online news website Rappler, which came out with the story based on an exclusive interview with former Cambridge Analytica employee-turned-whistleblower Brittany Kaiser. In an article published on Wednesday, Kaiser said Cambridge Analytica received a request “straight from Bongbong Marcos to do a family rebranding.” She added: “This was brought in through internal staff in Cambridge Analytica and was debated. There were some people that didn’t want to touch it and there were others, like our CEO Alexander Nix, that saw it as a financial opportunity and asked to write the proposal anyway.” Kaiser described Marcos’s efforts to change the family’s image as “historical revisionism fueled by the use of online data.” She said: “It’s done in a data-driven and scientific way. You undertake just enough research to figure out what people believe about a certain family, individual, politician, and then you figure out what could convince them to feel otherwise.” Rodriguez slammed the revelation as “patently fake, false and misleading.” Marcos Jr., he said, never reached out to Cambridge Analytica. Rodriguez accused Rappler, founded by veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, of “peddling lies and fake news against the entire Marcoses.” He said in a statement: “This move by Rappler to besmirch the former Senator’s and the Marcos family’s reputation speaks to the kind of insidious reporting espoused by its convicted founder Maria Ressa. The timing of this news story is nothing more than a marketing ploy meant to drum up support for their beleaguered news blog site.” Rodriguez added that Marcos Jr. “will be exploring the legal options to fight this injustice,” and “the filing of libel charges is on the table.” Marcos Jr.’s father was president of the Philippines from 1965 until he was ousted in 1986 through a series of popular demonstrations known as the People Power Revolution. His rule under martial law, imposed in 1972, is described by Filipinos as one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history. Marcos Jr. has been pushing for a revision of Philippine history textbooks, which according to him are teaching children lies about the family. According to Amnesty International, over 100,000 people were victims of his father’s regime, with an estimated 70,000 arrested, 34,000 tortured and 3,240 believed killed by the military and police. The family has been facing charges of human rights violations and corruption, and are believed to have amassed an estimated $10 billion of ill-gotten wealth.