Imee whips up storm of protest after urging Pinoys to move on

Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos has whipped up a storm of protest on social media after she urged Filipinos to “move on” from the days her father ruled the country as a dictator, which she characterized as just a “feud” between the Marcoses and the Aquinos.

At the Senate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said that before the governor asked people to get over that period in the country’s history, her family must first show remorse and apologize for all the wrongs and atrocities that happened under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Pangilinan, who was a student leader during the 1980s, on Wednesday said the real issue was never about the “feud” between the Marcoses and the family of the deposed strongman’s archrival, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

Critics say the Marcoses want to frame the late strongman’s regime as a feud between the two prominent families rather than the people’s resistance to dictatorship and their struggle for democracy.

“It was never an issue between the Marcoses and the Aquinos but an issue between the Marcoses and the entire nation that suffered immensely from the abuses, the greed and the oppressive and tyrannical rule of Marcos the dictator,” Pangilinan said in reaction to Imee Marcos’ remarks in Cebu City on Tuesday, the same day the nation commemorated the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Ninoy Aquino.

To her family, Marcos’ eldest daughter said Aug. 21 meant nothing more than the birthday of the wife of her brother, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Marcos said millennials had moved on from the issue, and so should people of her generation.

Remorse, apology

“How can there be a moving on when there is not a tinge of remorse nor any act of atonement nor acceptance or recognition of wrongdoing on their part?” Pangilinan said in a statement.

He said the Marcos family should do something similar to what Japan’s Emperor Akihito did—conveying his deep remorse over the atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines during World War II.

“Apologize and express remorse first before we talk about moving on,” Pangilinan said.

In a statement, Sen. Bam Aquino said there could be no closure on the Marcos regime as long as the Marcoses did not own up to what they had done.

“It’s hard to get over something if there is no closure, especially if they keep on telling the public that the guilty party did no wrong,” he said.

History has made it clear who robbed, tortured and killed Filipinos, he added.

The Philippine government, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government, has recovered about P170 billion of the estimated $5 billion to $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth from the Marcos family and their cronies. This included at least $658 million in secret Swiss bank accounts of Marcos and his wife, Imelda.

‘Return loot’

“The Marcos family should return what they plundered to the country,” Pangilinan said. “The Marcos family should stop using this same unexplained wealth to lie and rewrite history. When these happen, then we can all talk about and consider moving on.”

As a measure of the atrocities committed against Filipinos during Marcos’ one-man rule from 1972 to 1986, the government in May recognized and compensated more than 75,000 victims of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, abductions, disappearances and torture during his regime.

The Marcoses, who fled to Hawaii during the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, were allowed to return to the country and were staging a political comeback. Bongbong Marcos ran but lost in the 2016 vice presidential race.

President Duterte has acknowledged his close ties with the Marcoses and allowed the late dictator to be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani, triggering public outrage.

Social media reactions

Many Filipinos used social media to protest against the “move on” remarks of Imee Marcos, most of them demanding the return of the ill-gotten wealth and even jail time for the Marcos family.

The Inquirer report had been shared more than 13,000 times, eliciting nearly 300 comments on Twitter and 1,700 on Facebook plus 7,000 reactions as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We will [move on],” said Dr. Sylvia Claudio on Twitter. “When you return the stolen wealth and apologize for the killings, tortures and illegal detentions. Maybe a couple of years in jail, too.”

Mark A. Manansala posted a picture of former Marcos-era Malacañang insider, Primitivo Mijares posing with his son, Luis Manuel Mijares. Mijares disappeared after turning against Marcos and publishing the book “The Conjugal Dictatorship.” His son was tortured and allegedly dropped from a military helicopter over Antipolo City.

He cited the Mijares father and son “along with thousands of Filipinos who were killed and tortured during ML (martial law) era.”

“Because of them, we can’t move on,” Manansala said.

Avelino R. Diaz, also on Twitter, said, “Yes we’re finished with Ferdinand Sr. Let’s move on to remove the remaining Marcoses.” —WITH INQUIRER RESEARCH