Vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos speaks to the crowd in front of Provincial Capitol in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, February 9, 2016, during the start of the 90-day campaign period.
INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
The ruling Liberal Party on Saturday slammed vice presidential aspirant Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for his remarks that “protest votes” will dominate the upcoming national elections because “the government has abandoned real public service.”
LP spokesperson and Akbayan Representative Barry Gutierrez called Marcos an “expert” on “protest votes” and “abandonment of public service,” alluding to the popular 1986 uprising that ended the dictatorship of the senator’s late father and namesake.
“Well, he would know all about protest votes and abandonment of public service. For 20 years, he had a ringside seat to his father’s Martial Law regime, which beggared the country and stripped away basic freedoms from ordinary Filipinos,” Gutierrez said in a statement.
“He was at Malacañang standing beside his father, the late dictator, when the voices of protest of millions of Filipinos finally grew strong enough to end the Marcos regime and send them fleeing into exile,” he added.
READ: In Panay, martial law victims vow to hound Bongbong Marcos
Gutierrez also slammed the younger Marcos’ “distorted sense of history,” saying that the May polls would be an opportunity for voters to correct his misconceptions.
“The good Senator is an expert on these things, but apparently he has a distorted sense of history. I think that the May 9 elections will be an opportunity for the Filipino people to correct Mr. Marcos’ misconceptions,” he said.
READ: Ateneo professors slam Bongbong Marcos’ ‘revision of history’
In a news conference in Davao del Norte, Marcos on Friday reportedly said that he and his running mate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago will benefit from “protest votes” as a result of people’s frustration with the administration.
Marcos has been leading in recent preference surveys for vice president, tied with Sen. Francis Escudero. CDG
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