Careful about the legal repercussions of his statements, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday refrained from directly accusing the late President Ferdinand Marcos of masterminding the assassination of his father, former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
However, he said it was obvious that Marcos’ “mode of governance” allowed such a thing to happen and that his children should apologize for the dictatorship’s transgressions against the Filipino people.
READ: Aquino laughs off claims on ‘resurgence’ of support for Marcoses
“There was a mode of governance existing in our country then that allowed such a thing to happen,” Aquino told media during a forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) at Solaire.
“And who was the principal author of that mode of governance in turning us into a dictatorship? Where only one person’s interest and one group’s interest mattered and everybody else’s did not? When everybody’s rights were at the behest of the ruling entity at that point in time,” he said, alluding to Marcos.
READ: Aquino wanted to avenge pa’s murder
“One way of saying it is, somebody allowed such a situation to happen. And I think that’s the least I can say. The most is somebody allowed it to happen,” Aquino added.
“I have to be careful about protecting their rights when they were very cavalier about affording us any of our rights,” he explained as he refused to make the direct link between Marcos and the crime.
Ever since the elder Aquino’s assassination and Marcos’ fall from power, the two families have been at odds with each other. It has not helped that Marcos’ children, which includes vice presidential aspirant Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has refused to apologize for the human rights violations during martial law.
READ: Bongbong ‘apologizes’ to victims of Marcos regime
Aquino, during the interview, said that while he agrees that the children should not be blamed for the sins of their parents, there should also be a recognition of the problem.
“They embarked on a political career. The start of a solution is the admission of the problem or correct identification of the problem,” he said.
“If they said we had the opportunity to make this country great but it didn’t happen. We apologize, we would like to make amends. That I think would have been very, very acceptable. We are a forgiving people,” he said of Marcos’ children in public office — Bongbong and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos.
“But we have statements that there is nothing to apologize for,” Aquino said, referring to Bongbong’s earlier pronouncements that he has nothing to apologize for.
READ: Bongbong Marcos is right: Why should he say ‘Sorry?’
Earlier in the forum, Aquino laughed off claims that there is a resurgence in the support for the Marcos family. IDL