The Aquino family on Monday released a brief statement in response to Vice President Sara Duterte’s recent remarks during a Netherlands gathering, where she likened her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, to the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
“If we review history, we would see that what was done to Ninoy was very different from what former president Rodrigo Duterte is experiencing now,” the Ninoy & Cory Aquino Foundation posted the statement in Filipino.
In her earlier speech, VP Sara said, “Pa, I said your desire to return home would also be the end of your life; you would become like Ninoy Aquino Jr.”
The late senator was assassinated in 1983, sparking widespread demonstrations and bringing to the political forefront his wife and would-be president Cory Aquino.
Malacañang has likewise responded to the Vice President’s remarks, questioning the comparison when it was Rodrigo who previously compared himself to German dictator Adolf Hitler and not Ninoy.
“It’s a far stretch to compare former President Duterte to Ninoy Aquino, who had no record of mass murder or crimes against humanity,” Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said on Monday.