Martial law horror haunts Bongbong in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY—Protesters, including martial law victims, jeered at and taunted Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. even as her running-mate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago was welcomed like a rock star by her kasimanwas (provincemates) in Iloilo.

Protesters shouted magnanakaw (thief) and “Never Again to Martial Law” as the senator, the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, arrived on the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) campus where the pair spoke at a forum organized by UPV.

Marcos waved and smiled from his vehicle at the protesters who displayed placards and streamers outside the gate of the campus. Several protesters, including UPV students and teachers, jeered at him again inside the campus.

His supporters tried to drown out the protesters by shouting Bongbong.

At one point, Marcos faced a protester but continued smiling and waited for Santiago to get off from her vehicle before they entered the UPV Auditorium.

The protesters started their mass action even before the scheduled 2:30 p.m. forum that eventually started two hours late because of a delay in the arrival of Santiago’s flight from Manila.

The 30 protesters, led by the Campaign Against the Return of Marcoses to Malacañang (Carrma) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, displayed placards and streamers reminding voters of the thousands who were jailed, tortured and still missing under the rule of the senator’s father and namesake.

“We suffered under his father’s rule and his family benefited from its ill-gotten wealth. But he and his family have shown no remorse which makes our horrors more painful,” said Cynthia Deduro, who was detained from January 1974 until May 1975.

At the UPV library, about 100 meters from the auditorium, an exhibit of the Presidential Commission on Good Government displayed accounts of the horrors of martial law, including abductions, torture and summary killings.

The exhibit also showed the art collection and set of jewelry recovered from the Marcos family believed to have been acquired through ill-gotten wealth.

Upon the urging of the protesters, several drivers of vehicles sounded their horns to show their support for the protest.

About 1,000 supporters of Santiago and Marcos waited at the sweltering and jam-packed auditorium despite delay.

Students stood on chairs while the elderly jockeyed for space as Santiago, an alumna of the UP Iloilo, and Marcos entered the auditorium.