Cayetano cites Ninoy in fight for Senate presidency

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano vowed to keep fighting for the Senate presidency, even comparing his fight to that of martyred democracy icon Ninoy Aquino – a remark that did not sit well with the August Twenty-One Movement (ATOM).

In his 39-minute Facebook Live on Friday – his fifth since being stripped of the leadership post – Cayetano delivered his Independence Day message by recalling Philippine heroes’ fight to defend freedom and democracy.

Speaking in Filipino, the former Senate president cited the fight of Aquino, the vocal senator who opposed the martial law regime of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and compared it to his own fight against what he called external pressures on the Senate. He insisted that he is still the “legitimate and moral Senate president.”

“I mentioned earlier the words of senator Benigno Aquino, that ‘the Filipino is worth fighting for.’ So, that’s why now and then – don’t be offended – I will really use laban (raises right hand to make an ‘L’ sign) because we have to continue fighting,” Cayetano said.

Aquino’s original quote is “the Filipino is worth dying for,” which the senator had earlier in the video said correctly, before changing it to fit his “fighting” message. “Keep fighting. It’s worth the fight. We have to continue fighting,” he added.

In a statement on its Facebook page, ATOM – named after the date of Aquino’s assassination which sparked the 1986 people power revolution – called out Cayetano’s “delusions” when he compared himself to Ninoy, and urged him to resign from the Senate.

“At the very least, laughable. At the very most, highly insulting. In general, delusional,” the group, founded by Ninoy’s brother, former senator Butz Aquino, said.

The group said Cayetano and “their camp’s patrons” espouse the “qualities” that Aquino had fought against: “fascism, corruption, and the lack of accountability.”

“It is ironic that this camp, after having endorsed and danced for the Marcoses in 2022, now try to present itself as Ninoy’s heirs,” ATOM said.

“You are not Ninoy’s heirs – you are enemies of the values he represents. You are not revolutionaries – you are ‘delusionaries,’ a new term coined especially for your lot,” they added.

In his Facebook Live, Cayetano called detained plunder suspect Sen. Jinggoy Estrada a “sacrificial lamb” in the administration’s investigation of the flood control mess, calling his ally the “usual suspect” in any corruption investigation.

Estrada is charged before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly receiving P573 million in kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects.

“If a senator can be charged… in the flood control scandal, what do you think they can do to an ordinary councilor, mayor, governor?” Cayetano said.