Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday played down remarks by President Rodrigo Duterte naming him or Senator Francis Escudero as his preferred successor should he resign.
“I don’t think there was any question that the President was saying anything… unconstitutional,” he said. “I really do not know what that comment was referring to.”
Marcos again refused to apologize for the abuses during his father’s martial law rule, even if this would enable people to “move on.”
“I have answered this question 1,000 times. My answer does not change… What do we have to apologize for?” he said.
He expressed gratitude for the people loyal to him and his family.
“Thank you for always staying beside me, helping and loving me,” he said.
Asked about his sister, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos’ disappointment that people could not move on from their father’s martial law regime, the former senator said he understood her frustration.
“What they have been talking about had already happened 32 years ago. [That] was in 1986 when the government fell and we were charged with cases. There were decisions in those cases filed against us. It’s done. What else do they [critics] want (from us)?” he told the Nanka media forum organized by lawyer Larry Gadon.
He urged the public to focus more on the problems of the country, instead of wasting their time dwelling on the past.
“It’s all over,” he said.
He also said the Presidential Commission on Good Government has been abolished, although the agency still exists, and the House has passed a bill to abolish it.
The Palace, meanwhile, said there has been no threat to the President’s life after he claimed that the US Central Intelligence Agency planned to have him assassinated.
“The President is not concerned with any threats to his life. He even said that if it’s your time, it’s your time. But as of now, there is no such threat to his life,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
In a speech Tuesday, Duterte said, “I know the US is listening. I’m sure it’s the CIA. That [agency] will kill me.”
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde clarified there is no information among the countries’ security officials about the alleged assassination plot of the CIA on Duterte.
“With regards to the CIA, we do not have information,” Albayalde told CNN Wednesday.
“Although, if you’re a president, there’s always a threat on your life. There’s always that assumption that there’s a threat to your life,” he added.
