Philippines: Bongbong’s whitewashing of Marcos name anathema to 2016 plans

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday September 03, 2015 13:59 by Akbayan (Citizens Action Party)

Akbayan took exception to Senator Bongbong Marcos’s statement that there was no downside to being a Marcos should he decide to run for higher office in 2016.

“The very fact that Marcos chooses to be oblivious to the legally established fact pinning his father to massive, systematic plunder and human rights violations during Martial Law makes the prospect of another Marcos president disturbing,” said Machris Cabreros, Akbayan President.

“This is the downside of Philippine politics where we tend to equate justice with forgetting the past. This is what Bongbong Marcos wants the Filipino people to do,” explained Cabreros. “His refusal to come to terms with this baggage makes him an untenable option for 2016.”

“He is the epitome and primary beneficiary of this mindset,” added Cabreros. “And this attempt at historical revisionism should not be lost on the youth who comprise the majority of voters today.”

“A Marcos candidate that ignores the historical injustice perpetrated by his family has no place in a forward-looking, progressive Philippines,” said Cabreros. “And his possible alignment with Binay who continues to evade accountability about corruption charges reveals a lot about the inner working of Bongbong Marcos’s mind – birds of a feather do stick together.”

For her part, Akbayan Youth Chairperson Rafaela David said Marcos’s “attempt to gloss over fact and hark back to an imagined past of contrived prosperity is unacceptable.”

“Not only does this ignore history, but validating Marcos’s statements also sends out the message that the horrors of Martial Law were fictitious,” added David. “We demand Sen. Marcos face up to the truth about his father’s past, because without this reckoning, he will merely continue to play an active part in denying justice to the victims of Martial Law.”

“We intend to continue and pursue education drives with young people who had no idea what happened during Martial Law to make them understand the implications of another Marcos ascending to power,” David said.

Every year Akbayan Youth commemorates Martial Law by holding exhibits and fora in various schools around the country to help educate the youth on Marcos’s atrocities.

Bongbong should face ML victims directly

Bongbong Marcos is washing his hands off over his father’s transgressions and effectively whitewashing history for his refusal to acknowledge the historically and legally established excesses of Martial Law.

“The very fact that Marcos chooses to be oblivious to the legally established fact pinning his father to massive, systematic plunder and human rights violations during Martial Law is like pouring acid on wounds that have not totally healed,” said Machris Cabreros, Akbayan President.

“We challenge Bongbong Marcos to face the human rights victims to a session of truth-telling so he can tell them directly to their faces that he has nothing to be sorry for.”

“This is the downside of Philippine politics where we tend to equate justice with forgetting the past. This is what Bongbong Marcos wants the Filipino people to do,” explained Cabreros. “His refusal to come to terms with this baggage makes him an untenable option for 2016.”

“He is the epitome and primary beneficiary of this mindset,” added Cabreros. “And this attempt at historical revisionism should not be lost on the youth who comprise the majority of voters today.”

For her part, Akbayan Youth Chairperson Rafaela David said Marcos’s “attempt to gloss over fact and hark back to an imagined past of contrived prosperity is unacceptable. Not all youth are fond of his father’s memory.”

“Marcos’s statements send out the message that the horrors of Martial Law were fictitious,” added David. “We demand Sen. Marcos face up to the truth about his father’s past, because without this reckoning, he will merely continue to play an active part in denying justice to the victims of Martial Law.”

“We intend to continue and pursue education drives with young people who had no idea what happened during Martial Law to make them understand the implications of another Marcos ascending to power,” David said.

Every year Akbayan Youth commemorates Martial Law by holding exhibits and fora in various schools around the country to help educate the youth on Marcos’s atrocities.

https://akbayan.org.ph