Philippine rights leaders slam plan to honor Marcos

Human rights activists in the Philippines rejected on Saturday President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s move to proclaim the birthday of his late father, an ousted dictator, a special holiday in their northern home province.

Marcos Jr., who took office in June after a landslide election victory, authorized the declaration of the non-working public holiday in Ilocos Norte province on Monday for celebrations marking the 105th birth anniversary of his namesake father. The dictator was ousted in an army-backed pro-democracy revolt in 1986.

“It is but fitting and proper that the people of the province of Ilocos Norte be given the full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies,” said the presidential proclamation, which was posted on Facebook.

Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had also authorized the late president’s birthday to be observed as a holiday in Ilocos Norte. But rights activists have been especially alarmed by moves of the new president they suspect are meant to whitewash the image of his father and the Marcos family.

Satur Ocampo, who was arrested as a suspected communist insurgent in the 1970s and tortured under the Marcos dictatorship, criticized Marcos Jr.’s move to glorify his father “when the victims of the dictatorship have not even attained justice despite our campaign, plundered wealth has not been returned and there isn’t even a hint of apology up to now.”

Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, a former Commission on Human Rights official, said Marcos Jr.’s proclamation was “another step to revise history.” Her late father, an opposition politician, was imprisoned after Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972.

Rights activists announced during the news conference a series of protests on Sept. 21 to mark the 50th anniversary of Marcos’s martial law declaration.