Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag.
MANILA, Philippines — While the Philippines reveled in world admiration 36 years ago following the bloodless EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the 20-year rule of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, the political party of President Rodrigo Duterte now said that this particular historical period had all but destroyed and damaged the country’s institutions.
As the pivotal event had restored democracy from the oppression of the Marcos regime, PDP-Laban secretary-general and acting Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag said on Monday that the ruling party will not allow to have the “voice of the people” discredited through another EDSA uprising.
Matibag was reacting to claims of presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson that he received reports about an alleged plot to subvert the will of the electorate on the May 9 elections. Lacson, however, declined to provide more details saying the reports are not yet validated.
READ: PNP to get Lacson report on alleged poll sabotage, saying no threat as of now
“The PDP-Laban position has always been to respect the voice of the people and the Constitution we all signed up for. The party believes in the Filipino voters. The voice of the majority should prevail” said Matibag in a statement.
“We cannot allow another EDSA to destroy and damage our institutions. We must choose our leaders through honest and orderly elections,” he added.
Matibag’s PDP-Laban faction has thrown its support behind Marcos’ son and namesake, Bongbong Marcos Jr. His principal, Duterte, however, has yet to announce who he will be endorsing as his successor, save for his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is Marcos’ running mate for vice president.
Ironically, PDP-Laban was among the political parties that joined the coalition against Marcos Sr.
The Cabinet official likewise called on the people to “unite” towards “a common goal, towards progress” even after the May 9 polls, parroting Marcos, whose political battlecry for unity succeeded to bring together most of the country’s political factions who at one time or another had a brush-in with the so-called “yellows,” a pejorative term used by the administration to describe supporters of former President Corazon Aquino, and her son, the late President Benigno S. Aquino III.
“Kami sa PDP Laban respeto sa boses ng mayorya ang aming panuntunan. Para sa amin, yan ang pinaka diwa ng demokrasya,” Matibag further said.
(We in the PDP Laban respect the voice of the majority. For us, it’s the very essence of democracy.)
Earlier, Lacson and fellow presidential candidates Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso and former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales called for the withdrawal of Vice President Leni Robredo, number 2 in the Pulse Asia surveys, and offered themselves as alternatives in order to beat Marcos, the frontrunner in the presidential race.
READ: Isko Moreno, Lacson camps blame media questions for ‘anti-Robredo’ tenor of Easter Sunday presser
The presidential hopefuls, during their Easter Sunday press conference, claimed “they do not prefer a Marcos-Duterte victory in the upcoming elections because they predict that the ‘other side’ (yellow camp) will not rest in seizing power outside of the elections,” apparently referring to Robredo, who is running as an independent, but is backed by the Liberal Party that carried the two Aquinos to the presidency.
For its part, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it will look into the claims of Lacson, despite not monitoring any threats to the 2022 general elections.
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