Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV on Monday said the strategies allegedly being used by Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson to malign the legacies of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino do not work anymore.
Former President Corazon Aquino
“I think people are starting to realize and recognize ang mga estratehiya at estilo ng mga mastermind ni Asec. Mocha Uson. It may have worked in the past but it’s not working anymore,” Bam said in an interview on ANC.
The senator, a nephew of the late democracy icon, said he supports his cousin Kris Aquino’s efforts to fend off the supposed “attacks” against Ninoy and Cory .
Bam was reacting to the latest incident when Uson posted a video comparing President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial kiss with a Filipina in Seoul, Korea to Ninoy being kissed by two women inside a plane that was carrying him home to the Philippines from the US, just before he was killed at the airport.
Ninoy Aquino. ED SANTIAGO
For Bam, it was not proper to compare Duterte’s act in South Korea to the last moments of Ninoy’s life as documented by journalists aboard a plane.
“This is a person’s last two minutes of his life, how can you compare that to a so-called gimmick na pampatawa lang sa mga tao, na, of course, marami ring umalma,” he said.
“Napakalayo naman ng pangyayaring yan. That was the last 2 minutes of his life, how can you compare that to a so-called gimmick?” – Sen. Bam Aquino on the video comparing the kiss to Sen. Ninoy to Pres. Duterte’s kiss in South Korea
— Bam Aquino (@bamaquino) June 11, 2018
“Now, clearly there’s a move to change history and malign legacy of Tito Ninoy and Tita Cory, and hindi siya tama, and it shows a lack of context, a lack of appreciation of our history, a lack of appreciation for the people who have died for our country,” Bam said.
Former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. looks pensive shortly after being sentenced to death by musketry by a military tribunal in 1977 (left), and on his flight home from the United States on Aug. 21, 1983 (right), moments before being shot dead (center) on the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport. Inquirer Photos
Kris and Mocha had a heated exchange on social media over the Palace executive’s post.
President Rodrigo Duterte and his assitant Bong Go apologized to Kris but Uson herself did not say sorry for the incident. /vvp