Vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos greets the crowd during the motorcade in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, February 9, 2016, during the start of the 90-day campaign period.
INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
More than a hundred professors from different universities in the country have issued a joint statement vowing to counter the vice presidential bid of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., saying that the dictatorship of his late father Ferdinand E. Marcos was not a “golden age” for the Philippines.
The statement, which was signed by 178 professors, urged Filipinos not to believe the supposed distorted version of history being peddled by Marcos and his allies as the human rights violations and atrocities done during the regime were well-documented.
“Kami’y mga guro/propesor mula sa iba’t ibang paaralan at organisasyon na nagkakaisa sa paninindigan laban sa pahayag ni Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. na ‘golden age’ ng Pilipinas ang panahon ng diktadura, batay sa kagimbal-gimbal na katotohanan hinggil sa Batas Militar at diktadura ng kanyang amang si Ferdinand Marcos,” the group said.
(We are professors from different schools and organizations who stand up against the statement issued by Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. who said that his father’s dictatorship was the ‘golden age’ of the Philippines. This is due to the horrors done during the martial law and the dictatorship of his father Ferdinand Marcos.)
READ: Bongbong: Let historians, not politicians, judge Marcos rule
“Dapat magkaisa ang mga edukador at lahat ng mamamayan laban sa maling bersyon ng kasaysayan na ipinakakalat ni Ferdinand, Jr. at ng kanyang mga kaalyado. Malinaw ang mga pahina ng ating kasaysayan: mandarambong, human rights violator at tiwali ang diktadurang Marcos,” the statement read.
(Educators and Filipinos should be united in opposing the distorted version of history being peddled by Ferdinand Jr. and their allies. It is clear from the pages of history that the Marcos dictatorship was plunderous, violative of human rights and corrupt.)
The statement cited sources where the electorate can read the human rights violations committed during the Marcos regime such as the archives of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), at the Wall of Remembrance in the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, the text of Republic Act 10368 and some published works.
The educators, led by National Artist for Literature and UP Professor Emeritus Bienvenido Lumbera, said that they would work doubly hard to teach their students about the horrors of the dictatorship hoping that any personality connected to the martial law will not hold any government post again.
READ: Marcos victims vow to stop Bongbong bid
“Titiyakin namin na hindi na muling makapanunumbalik sa kapangyarihan ang mga utak, kasabwat, at tagapagpatupad ng Batas Militar sa ating bansa,” the statement read.
(We will ensure that those behind martial law and their allies will not return to power.)
Last week, more than 400 educators and staff members from the Ateneo released a statement scoring Marcos’ “willfull distortion” of the country’s history. They slammed the claim made by the senator who said that the assessment of his late father’s regime is best left to historians.
READ: Ateneo professors slam Bongbong Marcos’ ‘revision of history’
In the latest Pulse Asia poll, which was conducted during the week of the 30th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, Marcos tied with Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero in the top spot for vice president. CDG
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