MANILA, Philippines — For vice presidential candidate Lito Atienza, repetition of history may be possible if former senator and presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos would not admit to the abuses committed during the leadership of his father during the martial law era.
Atienza said Marcos Jr. should be “given a chance” to cleanse his name if he admits the abuses during the reign of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. However, if the younger Marcos does not acknowledge and admit them, “then there is no remorse”, said Atienza.
“[We need to hear] an admission that indeed there were abuses during the martial law, an admission that the economy suffered during that one-man rule… Admit-in mo yan and then palagay ko pwede na natin kalimutan dahil at least relax ako, hindi mo gagawin ulit,” Atienza said in an interview with INQside Look.
“Pero pag sinasabi mong wala namang nangyari, maganda ang nangyari noong martial law. Aba, may planong ulitin pa ito. If there is no admission, then there is not even remorse, then a repetition of the same is possible and I don’t want again for the nation to suffer martial law,” he added.
Atienza believes that the abuses committed during Marcos Sr.’s leadership is not an enough reason for Marcos Jr. to withdraw his presidential bid.
Nonetheless, Atienza stressed that there should be an admission of the atrocities during the martial law era from the late dictator’s son.
“If he admits that there was a lot of abuses committed during that period, I think it’s a good sign that he is different from the father… Then I think he should be given a chance by history to cleanse his name,” Atienza said.
Atienza has previously hit Marcos Jr. over the martial law issue, reminding the presidential candidate that he is not a millennial — or people belonging to a younger generation – so he knows what happened during his father’s martial law regime.
Marcos Jr. has previously said he can only apologize for himself, and not his father.