Presidential candidate Senator Manny Pacquiao on Thursday warned of another possible martial law era should the late dictator’s son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (BBM), be elected as president.
“Hindi malayo magkaron ng martial law kapag si Bongbong ang [manalo] at ‘yan ay pagsisihan ng taumbayan,” Pacquiao told reporters in Iloilo City.
The boxing champ speculated that the Marcos family is fighting to retake Malacaang to regain the power to do anything they want, even avoid paying what is owed to the government, such as the P203 billion estate tax.
“Gustong gusto nila makabalik [sa Malacañang]. Bakit? Unang-una, abswelto sila sa ano nila sa gobyerno, sa taxes. Pangalawa, ito ang talagang nakikita kong goal: ‘Pag sila nabalik sa power, ‘yung mga nakadispute na ari-arian, gold deposit, lahat ‘yan malilinis na ‘yan. Pwede na matransfer sa sariling account nila,” Pacquiao said.
“Sinasabi ko sa inyo, malaki ang posibilidad na magkaron kayo ng martial law uli. Sige, kung ‘yan ang gusto ninyo yan, iboto niyo,” he added.
Pacquiao believes that more Filipinos will join the communist cause to overthrow another ruler if this occurs. He also stated that he was willing to battle for the country.
Pacquiao: Another martial law likely if BBM wins
“Ako, wala naman akong problema, fighter naman ako. Basta para sa bayan, laban,” he said.
Pacquiao previously warned the public not to vote for a robber for president, claiming that only the most obtuse people would do so.
At 7:17 pm on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. This marked the beginning of 14 years of one-person rule that would effectively last until Marcos was exiled from the country on February 25, 1986.
Even though the formal document proclaiming martial law – Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972 – was formally lifted on January 17, 1981, Marcos retained all of his powers as dictator until he was ousted.
Based on the documentation of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and similar human rights monitoring entities, historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 ‘disappeared,’ and 70,000 incarcerations.
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