Aquino admits late campaign vs martial law

TARLAC CITY, Philippines—“We realized it too late,” President Benigno Aquino III said on Thursday when asked about the popularity of the “revisionist campaign” to change the perception of the public when it comes to martial law.

Such a campaign was said to have catapulted Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to the front of the vice presidential race.

“Perhaps those of us who experienced the martial law years failed to take into account that, especially for the millennials, it’s very hard to imagine, that such a period like the martial law actually happened,” he said during an ambush interview after the launch of the Balong-Balong Multi-purpose project in San Jose, Tarlac.

He said there was also disinformation at the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

READ: Aquino slams Marcos son, says martial law not PH’s ‘golden age’

Aquino said the young Filipinos now do not even understand what “illegal assembly” means.

“We might have realized it late,” he said in Filipino before explaining that it turned out well in the end, with administration candidate Camarines Sur Representative Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo leading in the polls.

READ: The Ninoy Aquino legacy: Martial law for millennials

He said Robredo did not even want to run for higher office but she was able to catch up and overtake Marcos.

“Maski na huling huli sa karera eh nanaig pa rin ang katotohanan,” he said. RAM/rga

(Even if we were late in the race, the truth prevailed.)