Nene Pimentel junks Enrile claim nobody jailed during Martial Law: ‘Siguro nakalimutan na niya ‘ko’

Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Friday disputed the claim of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that nobody was jailed or killed for criticizing the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos during the Martial Law years.

Pimentel said Enrile, Marcos’ defense minister and chief implementer of Martial Law, may have forgotten him as one of the thousands of Filipinos who suffered during those years.

“Siguro nakalimutan na niya ‘ko. That’s part of aging,” Pimentel said at a news conference in Malacañang in response to the 94-year-old Enrile’s dare to critics to name anybody who was jailed or killed for fighting the Marcos regime.

Video of the interview, titled “JPE: A Witness to History,” was posted on former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s Facebook page on Thursday, the eve of the 46th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.

The 83-year-old Pimentel, who said he was once mixed with “hardened criminals” while in detention, was jailed four times during the Marcos presidency. He was arrested and detained for three months in 1973 for opposing the Marcos-backed Constitution.

In 1978, the regime detained him for two months in Camp Bicutan in Taguig City for leading a demonstration against what he termed farcical elections for seats to the Batasang Pambansa. 

Five years later, Pimentel was arrested on charges of rebellion for allegedly giving P100 to a New People’s Army commander. In 1985, he was arrested for his alleged role in an ambush in Cebu City.

Pimentel himself published a book “Martial Law in the Philippines: My Story” where he narrated his experience of detention during the Marcos regime.

“I do not desire to take revenge against anyone. I’m only trying to say huwag nating gayahin ‘yung mga masamang mga leksyon na napulot natin during Martial Law,” he said.

He advised the young generation of Filipinos not to be deceived by people with “hidden agenda to justify the excesses of the Martial Law regime and to show that they should be given a chance to serve our people through the elections that are forthcoming.”

“Huwag nating pahintulutan ‘yan. Let us expose them for what they are. They are trying to perpetuate a legacy that had better be placed in the box of history several feet under [the] ground para [it] will not influence the thinking of the young people of our country and mislead them into the path of wrong assessment of life that the end justifies the means,” Pimentel said.

He said while Enrile was entitled to his view of Martial Law “the facts cannot be contradicted by mere opinions.”

“But people, we are a democracy. Huwag natin kalimutan demokrasya po tayo ngayon which means people can advocate positions that may sound outrageous provided they don’t resort to force,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel also said Enrile, who later on broke ranks with Marcos to join the 1986 People Power revolution that ousted the regime, may be “cementing his ties” to the Marcoses in hopes that the late strongman’s son and namesake, Bongbong Marcos, will become president someday.

“Of course, without my vote,” Pimentel said.

Last month, Duterte said that if he steps down, Bongbong Marcos would be a capable replacement for him instead of Vice President Leni Robredo, his constitutional successor whom he deemed incompetent to take on the job.

Bongbong has a pending electoral protest aimed at unseating Robredo.

Malacañang has said Duterte might resign if the younger Marcos wins in his protest pending before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. — RSJ, GMA News