MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang on Thursday countered Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s statement that President Benigno Aquino III should move on from the issues of the Martial Law years.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a press briefing that the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime will not attain justice if the nation will just move on.
"President Aquino has said time and again that there can be no reconciliation without justice. While it may be easy to say 'just move on,' we believe that in so doing, we will not be doing justice to the thousands of families whose members suffered violence during the dictatorship," Coloma said.
Coloma also responded to the senator's statement that the Marcoses have been vindicated in the eyes of the people when three of them were elected into office.
"As reported by the [Human Rights Victims Claims] Board, more than 75,000 claims have been received; evidently, the claimants are not accepting the view that election means vindication," Coloma said.
During the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines's presidential forum on Tuesday, Aquino said the family of former President Ferdinand Marcos should apologize to Filipinos for the atrocities committed by the dictator's government.
"If they said, 'We erred. We had this opportunity to turn this country greater as our father promised and it did not happen. We apologize. We want to make amends.' That I think would have been very, very acceptable," Aquino said.
He said that unlike the Marcoses, the Philippine government had apologized to Martial Law victims when it enacted into law the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.
Aquino also laughed off claims that there has been a resurgence of public support for the Marcoses, saying Filipinos will not allow the political clan return to power.
The president said young Filipinos should study the events during Marcos era so these will never be repeated in history.
"The president also believes that it is important to educate the Filipino youth who were born after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution on the importance of the values of freedom and democracy," Coloma said.