Tell youth of martial law horrors — Pimentel

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Aquilino Pimentel III urged all individuals who have personal knowledge about the human rights abuses during the martial law years of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to come out and remind the current generation about what the true situation was back then.

Reacting to the recent statements made by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile justifying the declaration of martial law in the early 1970s, Pimentel said that their accounts were simply not true.

In a video of a conversation between Enrile and Marcos Jr. that was posted on the latter’s Facebook page, Enrile, who served as defense minister when martial law was declared in 1972, said no one was arrested on the basis of their political beliefs and that no execution took place at that time.

Enrile also claimed that those who were arrested for their political beliefs were all released after suffering some inconvenience.

In an interview over radio dwIZ yesterday, Pimentel said he has personal knowledge about the suffering brought about by the martial law declaration because his father, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., was among those who were arrested and on multiple occasions.

“We were personally affected. We were still very young at the time but our lives were affected. They were not only inconvenienced. There were those who died, who were tortured and whose lives were changed drastically. Martial law then was no joke,” Pimentel said.

According to Pimentel, the objective for the release of the said video by Marcos was purely political.

He noted how two members of the Marcos family are very active in the political scene right now, so it is hard to think of any other motive.

Marcos has filed an electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo while his sister, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, is planning to