Filipinos won’t vote for Marcos if they remember Martial Law —PNoy

President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday expressed confidence that Filipinos will not vote for Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. if they knew what life was like during the dictatorship of the vice presidential candidate's father and namesake.

Aquino made the remark in a forum with Asian journalists when he was asked what would happen to the Philippines if Marcos won the vice presidency in May.

Marcos has been figuring strongly in the recent vice presidential preference surveys and is currently in a statistical tie with longtime frontrunner Senator Francis Escudero in the latest Pulse Asia survey.

"At the end of the day, especially for the younger generation of Filipinos, they have now access to various means to make them experience what life was like under our Martial Law period, which happened from 1972 to 1986. They will realize that this is not consistent with their vision or their aspirations of what their life should be," Aquino said.

"And then they will answer, I believe the question in this manner: Should we allow an opportunity, even vague at this point in time, for somebody who does not recognize the mistakes of that past to be in a position to commit the same mistakes somewhere in the future? And, I think, the answer will be a resounding no," he added.

Aquino pointed out that the senator even points to the  Marcos regime as "a golden period in the Philippines."

Marcos has repeatedly indicated that there was nothing for which to say sorry under the dictatorship.

''Will I say sorry for the thousands and thousands of kilometers that were built? Will I say sorry for the agricultural policy that brought us to self-sufficiency in rice? Will I say sorry for the power generation? Will I say sorry for the highest literacy rate in Asia? What am I to say?" Marcos said when told about human rights advocates asking for an apology for the alleged abuses under Martial Law.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government recently posted online pictures of pieces of jewelry seized from the Marcos family after the late strongman was deposed in 1986.

The online gallery, featuring the jewelry estimated at millions of dollars, was titled, “Virtual Jewelry Exhibit, A Story of Excesses: What could have fuelled a nation’s development."

During the observance of the 30th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution, an "experiential museum" was set up inside Camp Aguinaldo.

It features a series of performances and exhibits featuring forms of torture under Martial Law and alleged abuses of those in power at that time. —NB, GMA News