SENATOR Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday that President Benigno Aquino III should move on as most Filipinos have moved on from Martial Law and forgiven his family following their election into public office.
The senator is the only son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country for two decades, nine years of which were under Martial Law.
Since Marcos’ ouster in 1986 in the People Power Revolution, members of the Marcos family have been elected to public office, with the senator having served for more than 20 years. His older sister, Imee Marcos-Manotoc, is the governor of Ilocos Norte, while his mother, Imelda Marcos, is an elected representative of their province.
In an ABS-CBN public affairs program, Marcos was asked if being elected to public office was an indication that Filipinos had forgiven them, Marcos answered: “Perhaps yes. They are voting for us.”
Marcos said moving on was the key when Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, a key Martial Law figure that turned against the older Marcos, raised his hand when he officially announced he would run for vice president.
He said he and Enrile had talked about Martial Law, but added: “That was 30 years ago and many things have happened… Maybe we have both moved on.”
On Tuesday, the President said the Marcoses should apologize for the atrocities and transgressions committed by the late dictator against Filipinos during Martial Law.
Asked during the presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines if the Marcoses have something to apologize for, the President replied: “ I have said that time and again for many decades, yes.” He said the Marcos children should apologize to the Filipino people.
Aquino picked on the senator for the alleged wrongdoings perpetrated during the regime of the former strongman from 1965 to 1986.
But the senator, who is running for vice president in the May 2016 elections, said he does not see why he and his family should say sorry for the horrors of Martial Law. He said his father’s administration did not intend the abuses that happened during that regime. He noted that the suffering was not a policy of the government led by his father.
“If we planned to hurt people or make them suffer, then of course, we will apologize…. If it indeed happened, that was not the plan of my father’s administration,” he said.
“What should I apologize for? Have I hurt anyone? If there is evidence that I did something which brought hardship and suffering, I am ready to apologize,” he added.
Aquino, whose father was assassinated during the Martial Law years, said he was confident that Filipinos would not return the Marcoses to Malacañang Palace.
Aquino also dismissed reports that there was a resurgence of support for Marcos in his vice presidential bid.
Aquino said the Marcoses could have told the Filipino people: “We had this opportunity to turn this country great as our father promised—it didn’t happen. We apologize. We want to make amends. That, I think, would have been acceptable. We are a forgiving people as a general rule. But they have statements that there’s nothing to apologize for.”
Marcos’s presidential candidate Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago quoted the Bible in support of her running mate: “The sins of the father should not be visited upon the son… Marcos should be given the chance to redeem himself because he won as senator.”
Santiago said this meant the greater majority did not oppose Marcos as a public servant.
“I have not seen prima facie evidence that he killed someone, raped someone or burned a house, that he violated the Penal Code. No allegation that he personally committed a crime. During the time of Martial Law, he was just a small boy,” said Santiago noting that there was no allegation that he sinned against his neighbor.
“We cannot punish someone on the basis of suspicion. I can’t support that as a lawyer,” said Santiago who was a Quezon City regional trial court judge during the Martial Law years.