Marcos never paid fully for his crimes, says VP
MANILA: Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday appealed to the Filipinos to continue to fight determined atempts by certain quarters to “whitewash” the killings, atrocities and massive corruption that highlighted the martial law declaration of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos on the country on Sept.21, 1972.
Robredo issued the appeal as the country observed the 49th anniversary of the Marcos declaration of martial law that allowed him to rule as dictator for 20 years until his ouster by the Edsa 1 “People Power” revolution in February 1986.
“If we stay silent - if we don’t tell our stories, money and power will dictate history. We need to reiterate the truth at every opportunity. Under the evil regime, Filipinos suffered - they were stolen from, tortured and killed. They were buried in debt, a debt that generations of Filipinos will still have to pay,” Robredo said in Filipino.
She also reminded Filipinos that the ills perpetrated during the Marcos dictatorship has never stopped hurting the country.
Robredo reiterated that the Marcos never paid fully for his crimes and that his family continued to benefit from the alleged illegal wealth they had amassed during his strongman rule.
In this light, Robredo asked the people not to allow “revisionists” she did not, however, identify to tamper with history and justify the Marcos dictatorship.
“The most important task is to guard the truth,” she stressed, “and insist on the telling of the true history of the Filipino people.”
But in an editorial, entitled “The bogus anniversary” that appeared on the Sept.21 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the country’s largest circulation daily, it pointed out that in the government’s Official Gazete, the anniversary of the declaration of martial law “is on Sept.23 (not Sept.21).”
The editorial said in part: “Anyone wanting to have the authoritative word on the issue need only to read this official record of events surrounding the darkest period in the country’s life, which corrects the lies perpetrated by Marcos to suit his own version of history.” “By all accounts,” the editorial added, “Marcos chose Sept.21, 1972 as the official date of Proclamatin No.1081, which place the country under martial law, because of his belief in 7 as his lucky number. Since 21 was divisible by 7, Sept. 21 was deemed the more auspicious date compared to Sept.23.”
On Sept.20, meanwhile, the Federal Party of the Philippines announced its endorsement of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the only son and namesake of the dictator, as president for the national elections in May 2022 less than a year away.