By David Dizon, abs-cbnNEWS.com
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/07/12/10/martial-law-baby-shocked-marcoses-return-power
MANILA, Philippines – Former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel on Monday admitted that she is shocked that the Marcos family has returned to national prominence more than 20 years after they were removed from power.
A self-confessed “martial law baby”, Hontiveros-Baraquel said the election of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to the Senate does not mean that martial law human rights victims have forgotten what the Marcos dictatorship did to the country. Marcos Jr. was elected senator last May while his mother, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, and sister, Imee, were elected congresswoman and governor of Ilocos Norte, respectively.
“As a martial law baby, who became an activist during the martial law years, I cannot accept sitting down…that this is the beginning of a Marcos restoration without reparation for people,” she said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart.
The Marcoses were ousted from power in the 1986 EDSA Revolution, ending the 20-year rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. After a period in exile, the Marcos family returned to the Philippines and re-established their power bases in Ilocos Norte and Leyte.
Hontiveros-Baraquel said she and Bongbong were actually colleagues in the minority of the House of Representatives.
“He’s a nice guy but I have to hear from him and the other members of the Marcos family — what are their positions on justice for the Marcos human rights violation victims? What is their position on the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth? Because so far, all I have heard Bongbong say is that basically his father did no wrong and their family doesn’t owe us. I heartily disagree with him on those two major points,” she said.
She added that she is backing the creation of an independent Truth Commission that will investigate unresolved cases not just during the Arroyo administration but all the way back to the Marcos dictatorship.
Arroyo is still the issue
Hontiveros-Baraquel, who narrowly lost in the Senate election last May, also criticized former President and now Pampanga 2nd Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for reviving a proposal to change the Charter.
She said Arroyo’s move on her first day as Pampanga congresswoman angered many Charter change advocates who are pursuing genuine constitutional reform without any selfish agenda.
“Walang kupas siya talaga! Hindi pa siya sumusuko na mag-Cha-cha, na magshift sa parliamentary form of government para tumakbo siya bilang prime minister para may immunity from suit pa siya. It already shows you what’s top of her mind,” she said.
She said that while Arroyo did not pursue her plan to run for House Speaker, she knows that the former president is quietly gathering support for the Charter change proposal.
Hontiveros-Baraquel blamed Arroyo for a myriad of problems inherited by the Aquino administration including the weakening of the Office of the Ombudsman. The present Ombudsman, Merceditas Gutierrez, is a former classmate of Jose Miguel Arroyo, the former president’s husband.
She said she also couldn’t resist tweeting about Arroyo after defeated Nacionalista senatorial bet Gilbert Remulla made a nasty joke against President Aquino.
She said Remulla joked that Aquino “the only non-performer in the Senate” had been kicked out but was now President of the country.
In retaliation, she said she made her own joke in Twitter against Arroyo. In her joke, she said the country’s “worst President” had been kicked out but was now a congresswoman.
“I wasn’t mad. I just couldn’t resist Gilbert,” she said.
She also said she didn’t feel like insulting Nacionalista Party presidential bet Manny Villar since he had already lost in the election.
“My guns are trained on Arroyo,” she said.
