Suarez on Imelda’s conviction: ‘Don’t make it a big issue’

Placing Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos behind bars following her conviction for graft will not do the country any good, House Deputy Minority Leader Danilo Suarez claimed.

Fomenting criticisms, the Quezon representative on Monday said the proposal to exempt the widow of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos from serving the 77-year jail term handed down by the  Sandiganbayan “sound very reasonable considering that (she’s) already 88 years old.”

“For us to have closure, don’t make this a big issue. If you have her arrested, the issue will only become bigger,” Suarez told reporters.

“The critics of the late (dictator) have done nothing but look for the wrong that he had done. How about the good things they had done? Nobody is giving credit for the good they had done,” he said.

“I think if we’re going to dig up the past, we’re not going to move on,” he stressed. “My position is that we leave it that way. Let’s stop making it an issue. I hope we have a closure on this.”

Reminded that Marcos was found guilty of transferring $200 million in unexplained wealth to seven Swiss accounts, Suarez claimed there was no evidence that the money came from the state coffers.

“Give me one case wherein you can accuse the (Marcos) family of stealing money from the government. Name me one case,” he said.

The House minority leader said Marcos’ conviction for graft involved “unexplained wealth, but not (funds) coming from the purse of the government.”

As if courting uproar from martial law survivors, Suarez said: “Remember, if you work back in time, why were the critics (of Marcos) very angry? It’s because they are communists in the first place.”

“They were the enemies of the state,” he added. /ee

READ: Imelda Marcos to appeal graft conviction