Human rights violations? Ask Ramos, Imee Marcos says
ILOCOS NORTE Governor Imee R. Marcos on Monday, Nov. 14, blamed the human rights violations during the rule of her father, Ferdinand E. Marcos, on Fidel V. Ramos saying that as chief of the Philippine Constabulary, Mr. Ramos was responsible for “directing multiple abuses” during Mr. Marcos’s martial law regime.
Ilocos Norte Governor and daughter of the late dictator Imee R. Marcos on Monday, Nov. 14, accused former President Fidel V. Ramos of being responsible for “directing multiple abuses” in some provinces in the country during the martial law during his tenure as chief of the Philippine Constabulary (PC).
“Kami ay nag-aaral pa noon at mga bata pa ( We were still young when martial law happened). Bakit nga ba hindi natin tanungin ang dating ( Why don’t we ask the former) Philippine Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos tungkol sa mga pag- aresto at pang- aabuso diumano (about the arrests and abuses during that time),” Ms. Marcos said in a Facebook post on Nov. 14 which was also issued as a press release that day.
“He (Ramos) was responsible for directing multiple abuses committed by the PC in provinces, particularly in Samar and Leyte,” the press release read in part.
The dreaded Constabulary was dissolved soon after Mr. Marcos was ousted in the 1986 People Power Revolution that was led in part by Mr. Ramos, incidentally a cousin of Mr. Marcos. By this time, Messrs. Ramos and Juan F. Ponce-Enrile had become outsiders in the ruling military circle led by Mr. Marcos’s Armed Forces chief then, Fabian C. Ver.
Mr. Ramos was later elected president six years after the Revolution. Of late, he has become increasingly critical of the Marcoses and of the planned hero’s burial for the late dictator.
Mr. Ramos was sought for comment but was unavailable as of this reporting.
In an interview with GMA Network’s 24 Oras on Saturday, Nov. 12, Ms. Marcos contradicted Mr. Ramos’s version of his agreement with the Marcoses for the return of Mr. Marcos’s body. According to him, the Marcoses agreed to have the body buried in Mr. Marcos’s home province of Ilocos Norte.
“Baka nakaligtaan lang niya na (Maybe he just forgot that) in fact, siya ang nagpalawak nung meaning ng dapat mailibing sa Libingan ng mga Bayani (he was the one who broadened the meaning on who should be buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery),” Ms. Marcos told GMA.
Also interviewed by GMA, Mr. Ramos said by way of addressing the Marcoses: “Address [an apology] to all the descendants of the victims [of human rights abuses], whether or not there is an investigation, [and] show sincere desire to discard, reject and eliminate already all of the dictatorial tendencies and the happenings during that period.”
For his part, Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman said in a news conference on Tuesday: “If you’re looking for an alternative site for the late dictator, it can be the [mothballed] nuclear power plant [ in Bataan]. That’s consistent with the folly and corruption of the late dictator. That should be the final resting place for the despot.”