Vice presidential aspirant Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday said a public apology for martial law that his critics are demanding from him will not put closure to that dark part of the country’s history.
“Ako, tanggap ko. Lahat naman ng administrasyon may nasaktan, may naiwanan. Ganun din siguro sa administrasyon ng tatay ko. Pero siyempre nangyari ‘yan sa administrasyon ng tatay ko,” Marcos said, referring to the late dictator, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., on dzBB’s Ikaw Na Ba?… The Vice Presidential Interview.
The older Marcos declared martial law in 1972 during which many activists were allegedly killed or abducted, while several others were allegedly raped or abused.
On its Facebook page, the group said “CARMMA aims to torpedo the VP aspiration of Bongbong Marcos through public information and mass actions.”
The group said their mass actions “will hound Marcos wherever he goes” as they will try to maximize their “exposure” on the tri-media (print, radio and television) as well as on the new media or the internet.
The group demanded that Marcos acknowledge the abuses committed during martial law and “issue a public apology to the Filipino people.”
The group further demanded that the Marcos family let go of their alleged ill-gotten wealth.
Marcos said that while he respects the views of some groups that martial law should be held against him, he will not give in to their request for him to apologize.
“Kung meron akong sinaktan, mag-a-apologize ako… Pero ‘yung lahat ng pagkakamali sa past administration hindi ko naman yata obligasyon na mag-apologize para sa mga nakaraang administrasyon,”Marcos said.
He maintained that apologizing for martial law will not put closure to the alleged human rights abuses committed during that era.
“’Yung closure na sinasabi nila, wala sa kamay ko ‘yun. It’s not in my hands,” Marcos said.
Asked bluntly by radio host Mike Enriquez what will put closure to the wounds of martial law, Marcos replied that it is up to the judiciary.
“Nasa kamay ‘yan ng korte, nasa proseso,” Marcos said.
BATAC, Ilocos Norte – Vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday maintained that he will not apologize to the victims of human rights abuses committed under the term of his father, Former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. during martial law.
“I have already made my position very clear. I will apologize for any wrong that I may have done against somebody, that is always be my position and I will continue to hold that position,” Marcos told reporters at the sidelines of campaign activities.
The lawmaker was reacting to the statement of a group of martial law victims, who are asking him to “issue a public apology to the Filipino people”.
The group launched the “Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang” or CARMMA.
Marcos said that while he respects other people’s view that martial law should be held against him, he will not issue an apology.
“Ganyan naman ang pulitika. Kahit naman sino ang tumakbo, kahit na sa anong posisyon ay merong kalaban, merong katunggali. Expected naman namin yan,” Marcos said.
“And of course, we are prepared to answer any of the criticisms that they made or any of the question that they have for me,” he added.
Marcos had earlier indicated that his family has nothing to apologize for.
The Campaign against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA) challenged vice presidential candidate Senator Bongbong Marcos to answer “point-by-point” the “charge sheet” drawn up by the alliance on Wednesday.
CARMMA, an alliance of victims of human rights violations and their families under the Marcos regime, said the senator should not “evade the truth” and answer the allegations of abuses committed during the 21 year rule of his father, the late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
“Please do not anymore evade the truth by waxing philosophical or profound, as in ‘hindi ako, hindi ikaw angnakaraan.’ For starters, please answer the six issues,” CARMMA said.
CARMMA’s issues with Marcos are the following:
– The Marcos ill-gotten wealth. The group said the Supreme Court defined the Marcos ill-gotten wealth as those in excess of the family’s total legal income, which was around $304,000 only from 1965 to 1986. Some $10 billion are believed to have been amassed by the Marcoses through the years and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has managed to recover only about $4 billion.
– Partaking of the fruits of the plunder. According to the group, while the sins of the father may not be passed on to the son, the son could very well inherit the ill-gotten wealth of the father. “How could the Marcos family live in style all these years? Where is his election fund coming from?”
– Involvement in alleged crony capitalism. The group said that in 1985, when Bongbong was 26 years old, his father appointed him chairman of the board of the Philcomsat, receiving a monthly salary of anywhere between $9,700 to $97,000. This, despite that fact that he rarely even went to the Philcomsat office.
– Poverty and economic sabotage under the Marcos dictatorship. The group said the number of Filipinos living below the poverty line doubled from 18 million in 1965 to 35 million in February 1986. The dictator also left behind a staggering foreign debt of $27 billion. The group said these go against Bongbong’s claim that Filipinos were better off under the Marcos administration.
– Defending and promoting martial law. The group said at least 3,000 were killed and more than 30,000 were detained, brutally tortured, raped, or suffered various forms of abuse. It said Bongbong even had the gall to undermine the 9,539 human rights victims in the Hawaii class suit who won the case against the Marcos estate as purely motivated by compensation.
– Involvement in the P10-billion-peso pork barrel scam.
CARMMA spokesperson Bonifacio Ilagansaid that the Marcos family’s lifestyle was improbable to maintain on a government official’s salary and belied his statement that he is guiltless in his father’s crime.
“Bongbong, for 30 years, has been a mere salaried government official. How could the Marcos family live in style all these years? Where is his election fund coming from?” Ilagan said.
“As a reserve officer in the Philippine Army, Bongbong wore the military combat uniform when his father was sworn into office at the balcony of Malacañang after the dictator rigged the 1986 snap presidential elections. Bongbong upheld electoral fraud and was ready to defend the dictatorship by arms,” he added.
Bongbong has repeatedly said that there may have been abuses under his father’s administration but added that these were not national policy.
On Tuesday, he said that while he respected efforts to derail his campaigning efforts, his family did not have to apologize for the growth the country achieved from the 60’s to 80’s.
A few days before the official start of the campaign period for the May elections, a group of about a hundred martial law victims and human rights advocates has launched a campaign which aims to upset the vice presidential bid of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In a short gathering held Thursday, the group launched what they dubbed as the “Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang” or CARMMA.
GMA News Online on Friday repeatedly tried to talk to the group’s spokesperson, director and writer Bonifacio Ilagan, but he was not answering calls and text messages.
However, on its Facebook page, the group described itself as a “network” composed of “martial law victims, civil libertarians, peace and freedom advocates and militant groups”.
The group said most of its members belonged in the “anti-Marcos/anti-dictatorship movement of the late 70s and early 80s that resulted in the historic 1986 EDSA People Power Uprising that toppled the dictator and led to the exile of the entire Marcos family”.
Senator Marcos is the son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law in 1972.
“CARMMA aims to torpedo the VP aspiration of Bongbong Marcos through public information and mass actions,” the group said on its Facebook page.
The group said that after CARMMA’s launching in the National Capital Region (NCR), a similar campaign network will also be replicated in major cities and provinces “where there are a strong presence of anti-Marcos advocates and militant groups”.
The group said their mass actions “will hound Marcos wherever he goes” as they will try to maximize their “exposure” on the tri-media (print, radio and television) as well as on the new media or the internet.
The group said the target of their campaign is to educate the public, especially the youth, about the human rights abuses prevalent during the martial law era.
“CARMMA will remind the public of the widespread human rights violations that were perpetrated by the Marcos fascist dictatorship using the military as its primary tool of suppression of civil liberties and basic freedoms,” the group said.
“Victims of illegal arrests, torture and other abuses and families of those salvaged and those who continue to be missing will serve as the living testimony of what people who fought against Martial Law and the Marcos dictatorship suffered under the US-backed regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Bongbong’s father, and his military apparatus,” the group added.
The group demanded that Marcos acknowledge the abuses during martial law and “issue a public apology to the Filipino people”.
The group further demanded that the Marcos family let go of their alleged ill-gotten wealth.
“This means that, at the minimum, they should drop all the cases they filed against the government to defy sequestration. They should then surrender their ill-gotten wealth as a form of atonement and to enable the government to indemnify the victims of Martial Law,” the group said.
GMA News Online tried to get a reaction from Marcos Jr. but he was not answering calls and text messages.
On February 9, Tuesday, Marcos and his running mate, presidential aspirant Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago are set to kick off their campaign in Batac, Ilocos Norte, the hometown of the late dictator Marcos.
A measure extending the life of the claims board tasked to receive and process the claims of human rights victims under Martial Law inched closer to becoming a law after it was approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives on third and final reading Monday.
Under the proposal, the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board will be extended from May 12, 2016 to May 12, 2018.
Voting 127-7, the House passed House Bill 6412 which seeks to provide human rights victims during the Martial Law period full access for reparation in recognition of the sufferings and sacrifices they endured.
The Senate approved its version of the bill earlier in the day with 14 affirmative votes, zero negative vote and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile abstaining.
The bill proposes to amend Section 29 of Republic Act 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.
While acknowledging the human rights victims’ entitlement to reparation, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said the life of the claims board should not be extended for another two years because its members are supposedly “insensitive” to the injured parties’ plight.
He said that the original version of the bill only indicated a one-year extension of the claims board’s work.
“Ngayon ang nakalagay na bill ine-extend by another two years [ang buhay ng claims board]. Hindi na yan maatim ng human rights victims…. I’m against this bill because they don’t care, they’re insensitive to the needs of the victims,” Colmenares said.
Hours ahead of the plenary session, the rights group Selda held a picket outside the House to protest the proposed extension of the HRVCB’s life.
In a statement, Selda vice chairperson Bonifacio Ilagan said prolonging the claims board’s lifespan is just the Aquino administration’s way of securing the tenure of the Malacañang-appointed officials. Such a move, he said, will also eat up the funds allocated for the victims of Martial Law.
“Extending their term, without any guarantee that they will accomplish their task, is like prolonging our agony, many of whom might not receive the reparation and justice they have been fighting all their lives,” he said.
A measure extending the life of the claims board tasked to receive and process the claims of Martial Law to May 12, 2018 is set to be approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading this week.
House Bill 6412, which was approved on second reading on Jan. 27, seeks to provide human rights victims during the Martial Law period full access for reparation in recognition of the sufferings and sacrifices they endured.
The bill proposes to amend Section 29 of Republic Act 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.
In seeking the extension of the claims board’s life, authors of HB 6412 noted the unexpected number of claimants when RA 10368 was passed into law.
“Since the enactment of R.A. 10368 on February 25, 2013, challenges have emerged in the implementation, owing to developments that were not foreseen at the time. One of these is the big number of claimants that have applied for recognition and reparation with the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board or HRVCB,” they said.
Under the law, a victim or his legal claimant’s failure to file an application with the HRVCB by Nov. 10, 2014 is deemed a waiver of his right to seek compensation.
In February last year, President Benigno Aquino III signed into law Joint Resolution No. 03 to accommodate the huge number of human rights claimants.
As of May 2015, the HRVCB had received 75,537 applications for reparation and/or recognition.
Given the massive number of claimants, lawmakers believe HRVCB’s work period should be extended beyond the May 12, 2016 deadline indicated in the present law.
They said the aboard needs more time to do its work given its limited number of personnel and resources.
“Each of the claims needs to be thoroughly deliberated upon in order to judiciously resolve the legitimate claims and to investigate and dispose of the fraudulent ones. Only then will the HRVCB be able to discharge its mandate, and give a measure of justice to all deserving claimants,” the lawmakers said.
Congress is set to adjourn sessions on Feb. 3 to give way to the election campaign season.
