CARMMA: Marcos Jr.'s call to forget the past is a smokescreen

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

Press Statement

10 May 2023

Reference: Judy Taguiwalo, CARMMA convenor

CARMMA secretariat, 09189790580

Marcos Jr.'s call to forget the past is a smokescreen

In an interview during his visit to the United States, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. again tried to gloss over the corruption and brutality that marked his father's rule by saying that Filipinos are more interested in the future than in the past.

Marcos Jr.'s latest attempt to lull the Filipino people to collective amnesia about his family's sordid history, however, has been stymied by a Sandiganbayan decision denying a motion from the Marcoses to retake a set of 22 forfeited properties and assets previously declared by the Supreme Court as ill-gotten.

Reflecting only a fraction of the Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth, the assets and properties in question are astounding for showing some of the scale of the Marcoses' corruption. None of the 22 forfeited assets was in their name, but held by "dummies" who had agreed to their forfeiture after entering into compromise agreements with the Presidential Commission on Good Government. And yet, here come the Marcoses, claiming that the assets and properties are actually theirs, and forfeited without their consent.

Which goes to show that Marcos Jr.'s glossing over of history is actually a smokescreen. What lies behind is his family's frenetic bid to recover and consolidate their ill-gotten wealth. With this goal in mind, we can expect Marcos Jr. to flex his power as president and bend future rulings in his family's favor.#