VP Leni on Marcos holiday: What is there to celebrate?

Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said it was "inappropriate" to mark the centennial birth anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. as a holiday, noting the abuses committed during his long reign.

"Parang kinakalimutan natin iyong lahat na kasalanan na nagawa sa taumbayan," Robredo said. "Parang nire-revise iyong kuwento, nire-revise iyong kasaysayan, na hindi naman dapat."

She also said the Marcos family should not impose the holiday on the public.

"Kung pamilya kayo, okay lang naman na i-celebrate niyo sa paggunita ng araw ng inyong namatay. Pero kapag sinasabi mo na kailangan ipagbunyi ito—iyong buhay niya, kailangang ipagbunyi ng ating bansa—iyon iyong mali."

Robredo, whose victory in last year's elections is being contested by Marcos' scion, former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., was speaking to reporters at the founding anniversary of Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan, a town named after Marcos' mother-in-law. 

She reiterated that the Marcos family must "come clean to the public" if they were sincere in wishing to return some of the alleged ill-gotten wealth they amassed when their patriarch was in power.

"Kasi iyong kasalanan sa bansa, hindi pa iyon napapawi, lalung-lalo na kasi iyong mga ninakaw sa ating bayan ay hindi pa nababalik. Hindi naman kanila iyon. Pera iyon ng taumbayan," she said.

On Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte gave the nod to the Marcoses' request and declared September 11 as a special non-working holiday in Ilocos Norte, Marcos' home province. —Margaret Claire Layug/KBK, GMA News