Malacañang took exception to Vice President Sara Duterte’s attempt to draw parallels between her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., suggesting that would be a lopsided comparison.
In a press briefing on Monday, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said the elder Duterte, who currently faces crimes against humanity charges in The Hague, considered himself more akin to German dictator Adolf Hitler.
She cited a controversial remark by Duterte, in which he said, “Hitler massacred three million — actually, supposed to be six million — Jews. Now, there are three million drug addicts in the Philippines. I’d be happy to slaughter them. At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have me.”
To recall, during a gathering of supporters in the Netherlands, the Vice President recounted a conversation she just had with her father, in which she warned him about returning to the Philippines.
“Pa, I said your desire to return home would also be the end of your life; you would become like Ninoy Aquino Jr.,” she supposedly told him in Filipino.
The younger Duterte was apparently suggesting that her father would, like Aquino, also be murdered if he insisted on coming back to the Philippines.
However, Castro said the Vice President’s fear for her father’s life was baseless, while pointing out Duterte’s penchant for seeing death threats where there are none.
“That’s what is puzzling, where are these stories coming from? Where is the comparison to Ninoy Aquino or these alleged threats coming from? As a matter of fact, the supposed threats against VP Sara have yet to be shown to the NBI or the PNP,” the Palace spokesperson stressed.
“It’s a far stretch to compare former President Duterte to Ninoy Aquino, who had no record of mass murder or crimes against humanity,” Castro added.
Meanwhile, the Aquino family on Monday released a brief statement in response to the Vice President’s recent remarks likening Duterte to the late senator.
“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.
Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in 1983, sparking widespread demonstrations that would eventually unseat the President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. and bring to the political forefront his wife and would-be president Cory Aquino.