Marcos Jr. will set PH back –Senator Osmeña

FATHER and son in the days of the dictatorship File photo

Electing the namesake son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to the vice presidency would set back the country’s gains in the last 30 years, according to someone who was imprisoned during martial law.

And what would the rest of the world say?

Sen. Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III said President Aquino could not be blamed for campaigning against Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is emerging as a top contender for the vice presidency.

“It is a moral obligation on the part of this country to let the world know that we have our values right, our moral values are solid,” Osmeña said on Thursday at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.

He said Filipinos elected Mr. Aquino to the presidency because they believed that as the son of President Corazon Aquino, he must have a “strong moral base.”

“Now how can we go the opposite way and say Bongbong Marcos is the son of Ferdinand but he does not have the morals of Ferdinand Marcos. Who will believe that?” he said.

Osmeña noted the younger Marcos could try to whitewash his father’s rule. But this could be easily disputed, he said, since the torture victims number in the thousands.

He pointed out that the late President Marcos was listed second on a list of the world’s most corrupt leaders, after Indonesia’s late President Suharto.