Despite favoring the Marcoses in some instances, President Rodrigo Duterte still regarded the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos as the president who had rampant human rights violations and corruption recorded in his term.
Stated in the Proclamation No. 319 signed by Duterte and Acting Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Marcos “has imprinted itself in the collective memory of the people as a time attended by the commission on human rights violations, arbitrary state interventions, rampant corruption, and disregard of fundamental civil liberties” during the Martial Law period.
The document also said the administration “recognizes the fear and indignation of the people against a repetition and perpetuation of such human rights violations and all other failings of the government.”
Duterte critics have compared him to the late strongman because of the alleged human rights abuses happening because of the ongoing extrajudicial killings on alleged drug users.
He was also subjected to historical revisionism after he allowed the remains of Marcos to be buried in Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Duterte has also a close link with Marcos’ children, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos.
On Sept. 7, he released Proclamation No. 310 declaring a holiday on Sept.11 in Ilocos Norte as a celebration for the centennial birth of the late strongman. He later on admitted the family requested for the holiday.
Source: Rappler
Photo credit: BBC
