Administration vice presidential bet Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo on Tuesday slammed rival Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for saying that the atrocities done during martial law is a non-issue in the upcoming May polls.
In a statement, Robredo challenged Marcos to address the thousands of Filipinos killed and human rights violations committed during the Martial law—which was implemented during the administration of his father and namesake, former president Ferdinand E. Marcos.
“Sa mga nagsasabing panahon na para mag-move on sa martial law, ito lamang po ang masasabi ko sa kanila: Paanong kami magmu-move on, kung ang mga multo, pait at bangungot ng kahapon ay pilit na bumabalik at ginugulo ang ating katahimikan at kasalukuyan?” Robredo said.
(For those who say that is it time to move on from martial law, all I can tell them is this: How will we move on if the ghosts, hurt and nightmares of the past keep haunting and disturbing our silence and our present?)
READ: Palace: Marcos popularity not failure of Edsa, but revisionism in history
The lawmaker from Camarines Sur said that while she was only eight years old when former president Marcos declared martial law, she was aware of the horrors committed during that time.
“Nandoon na kahit musmos ka pa lang ang palaging kuwentuhan sa hapag-kainan mapa-almusal man o hapunan ay tungkol sa mga balitang may dinukot na ganitong aktibista, may pinatay na lider-manggagawa o kaya may baryo ng mga magsasaka na sinunog at pinagbabaril,” Robredo shared.
(There were instances wherein, despite being a child, you would hear talk around the breakfast or dinner table about news on activists being abducted, labor leaders being killed, or farming villages being burned and farmers fired at.)
She said that while she was an Economics student in the University of the Philippines Diliman, she joined rallies calling for the end of the dictatorship.
Thirty years after the historic Edsa revolution, Robredo warned against people who are painting a rosy picture of the country during the dictatorship on social media.
She earlier said that the claims that the martial law years were the best years in the Philippines can be easily disputed by facts and figures.
READ: Leni: Martial law our best years? Review your history, please
In one of his sorties, Marcos said that people no longer talk about martial law.
“People no longer ask about martial law. They are interested in the current problems of the country such as jobs and traffic,” Marcos told reporters in Caloocan City last week.
On Monday, hundreds who endured torture and imprisonment under the martial law gathered in UP Diliman to campaign against Marcos’ vice presidential bid.
READ: Marcos victims vow to stop Bongbong bid
They all belong to the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang, or Carmma. The group promised that they will dog the younger Marcos’ electoral bid.
“He will redeem the family, rewrite history and bring back his father’s abusive leadership framework,” Carmma convener and torture victim Bonifacio Ilagan was quoted as saying.
Marcos is currently a frontrunner for the vice presidency, sharing the top spot with Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. CDG
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