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| Photo Credit: AP. |
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — 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 signed by Marcos
Jr.’s executive secretary and 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 in an online news conference
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.”
“We will not
allow them to get away with this,” he said.
Gwendolyn
Pimentel-Gana, a former Commission on Human Rights official, said Marcos Jr.’s
holiday 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.
Filipino
historian Francis Gealogo said Marcos Jr.’s holiday declaration was in stark
contrast to steps taken by other countries to use historical sites associated
with dictators as a warning against tyrannical rule. He cited a stone marker
outside Adolf Hitler’s birthplace in Austria that promotes democracy, condemns
fascism and pays homage to the massive number of his victims.
“What is being celebrated here?” Gealogo
asked. “This is like spitting on history and the memory of the people who had
been victimized” by the dictatorship.
There was no immediate comment from Marcos Jr. but his key officials have cited his May 9 electoral victory as a reflection of the Filipino people’s trust and confidence in him despite the allegations against his father and his family, which Marcos Jr. had called “lies.”
Critics say
a well-funded social media campaign to burnish the image of the Marcoses has
helped the family’s stunning political comeback.
The elder
Marcos, his family and cronies were driven to U.S. exile after he was ousted by
a 1986 “People Power” uprising.
He died in
Hawaii in 1989 without admitting any wrongdoing amid allegations of plunder and
human rights atrocities. A Hawaii court later found him liable for massive
human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate
more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture,
incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.