WHILE vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. commended President Benigno Aquino III for his campaign against corruption, the senator described it as “selective.”
During the second leg of the Radyo Inquirer Issues Forum at Tarlac State University Gymnasium on Monday, Marcos acknowledged the reform program as Aquino’s legacy but said that it had not been fully implemented “because of its selectivity against those perceived to be opposed to his administration.”
“I think that anticorruption is his centerpiece program. Corruption has long been our problem and it is good that he made the anticorruption drive the foundation of his administration,” Marcos said, replying to a question from the audience.
“A lot of work still has to be done and it needs to be expanded. There should be equal treatment for everyone involved in corrupt practices,” the senator said. “Sometimes those who are just suspected of involvement but are allied with the President do not get into trouble. But if they belong to the political opposition, they are immediately charged.”
For the anticorruption drive to truly succeed, Marcos said, all institutions need to be fortified and the rights of every citizen recognized and respected. He said there should be “equal treatment for those suspected of involvement in corruption whether they be prominent or not, an ally or a member of the opposition, a government official or an employee in the private sector.”
Sought for comment, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said: “The President’s position has always been: let the evidence point to the direction of the inquiry. We have respected the independence of the Ombudsman and of the courts.”
Continuing his blast against Marcos yesterday, President Aquino told Asian journalists that Filipino voters would not allow the senator to win in the May elections and allow him to repeat the mistakes of his father’s martial law regime.
At the Publish Asia 2016 conference, Mr. Aquino was asked by a Burmese (Myanma) journalist what would be next for the Philippines if the namesake son of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos won the vice presidency.
The President said the younger Filipinos, believed to be the voting base of Marcos, have various ways of learning about life under former President Ferdinand Marcos’ 14-year authoritarian rule.
“They will realize that this is not consistent with their vision or their aspirations of what their life should be. And then they will answer, I believe, the question in this manner: Should we allow an opportunity, even vague at this point in time, for somebody who does not recognize the mistakes of that past to be in a position to commit the same mistakes somewhere in the future? And, I think, the answer will be a resounding ‘No,’” Mr. Aquino said.
Marcos’ campaign manager, Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz, on Wednesday called on President Aquino to move forward and do away with hate politics for the country’s sake.
“After 30 years of unending demonization, hate campaign and divisiveness, some political forces want our people to continue fighting the battles of the past,” Dela Cruz said in a statement. “We do not want to burden our people any further past concerns. We want to move forward to provide our country with a better future.”
Dela Cruz called for an end to “hate campaigns, divisive politics, selective justice, incompetent administration and hypocritical grandstanding.”
Marcos continued to gain ground in the latest voters’ surveys and has tied Sen. Francis Escudero in the top spot despite Malacañang’s stepped-up assault on the senator after the New York Times, in a front-page report on the 30th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution last month, said that Mr. Aquino’s inept government had prompted a yearning among Filipinos for the “golden age” of the Philippines under martial law.
Also on Wednesday, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) dismissed Marcos’ claim that the exhibit of the Marcos family jewels on social media, launched last week, was an attempt to derail his vice presidential bid.
“The PCGG’s efforts to start this project started way before Sen. Bongbong Marcos declared his candidacy,” said a text message from the commission’s information office. With reports from Nikko Dizon and Jovic Yee