Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr must be suffering from selective amnesia. In a recent TV show, he staunchly defended his father against charges of gross human rights violations given the fact that his father was never indicted for human rights.

This is highly insulting and totally baseless, especially to the thousands of Filipinos who filed a class suit and won a judgment against him in the United States Federal District Court of Hawaii.

The judgment we won in the Hawaii Court which ruled Ferdinand Marcos guilty of human rights violations in 1992 is glaring evidence that stares Marcos Jr. in the face. Nine thousand five hundred thirty nine Filipinos were murdered, disappeared or severely tortured under Marcos. This is more than enough evidence that Marcos Sr. was a despotic leader who did not hesitate to commit heinous crimes against the people in order to perpetuate him in power.

Among these tortured victims is Satur Ocampo, colleague and current party mate of Marcos Jr. in the 2010 elections. Satur was severely tortured and incarcerated for years, yet his presence does not seem to disturb the aspiring senatorial bet from the north whose obvious reason for running is to exonerate his family from crimes committed by Marcos Sr. against the Filipinos.

Marcos Jr.’s position is a cavalier display of arrogance flaunted at Satur whose righteous stand to still pursue compensation claims against Marcos is easily drowned by the noise of the more flamboyant Ilocano solon from the north.

Such a bizarre arrangement of squeezing Bongbong Marcos, Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza in one big senatorial pie is a feat only a politician such as Senator Manny Villar is capable of doing. Steeped in making transactional deals no matter with what side of the political fence you’re in, the wily senator must be given credit for expedient gains he hopes to sustain until after the elections.

One, he claims monopoly over the north with the combined warlord strength of Chavit Singson and the Northern Alliance. Two, with Satur and Liza cozily packed in the same senatorial bag with Bongbong, Villar has succeeded in neutralizing the Far Left, whether armed or unarmed, from joining public criticism of his reported shady deals in stock exchange and real estate projects.

Not a whimper is now heard from the otherwise noisy left crowd despite Villar’s unethical conduct in the use of his high office for furthering business interests whether in real estate or in stocks trading. Worse, he sees no wrong with extortion activities and violent acts committed by the CPP’s private army.

As a transactional politician, Villar finds it pragmatic to keep under his protective wing those who defend dictatorship to the hilt from the far right and those who keep conveniently silent with extortion and violence from the far left.

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