MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday renewed his call for the revision of history textbooks as charges against his family were being dismissed by the courts.
Marcos said that textbooks should not be handled by political appointees but rather history professors and experts in the field of political science.
“Pinapalitan daw namin ang kwento ng kasaysayan. Who is doing revisionism? Nilagay nila sa libro ng textbook ng mga bata na ganito, ‘ang mga Marcos ganito ang ninakaw, ganito ang ginawa’,” Marcos said in a forum hosted by the National Press Club.
(We were accused of revising history. Who is doing revisionism? They put in children’s textbooks that, ‘the Marcoses stole this, they did that’.)
“Ngayon lumalabas sa Korte hindi totoo lahat ng sinabi ninyo dahil hindi niyo naipakita,” he added.
(Now, the Court says the things being said were not true because you were not able to prove it.)
The former senator said his family has been calling for the revision of textbooks for years, but those in power were “under the influence of our opposition.”
“Pero ‘di rin naman tama ‘yun (That is not right). What has been proven wrong is that they continue to contend —essentially, you are teaching the children lies,” he added.
Marcos’ remarks came after several charges against his family were dismissed.
“I can call anyone a murderer, I can call anyone a thief but I have to prove it. Kung hindi e, salita salita lang yan (If not, those are merely words). That’s hot air coming out of my mouth. And it turns out even in their case it was only propaganda,” he said.
The former senator also maintained that the accusations made against his family were mere “propaganda” used for political reasons.
“That has always been our contention, the reason na tumagal ng ganito ay propaganda pampulitika,” Marcos said.
(That has always been our contention, the reason the accusations have lasted this long is propaganda for political reasons.)