House OKs bill declaring September 11 a holiday in Ilocos Norte to mark Marcos' birthday

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on third and final reading the measure seeking to declare September 11 a special non-working holiday in the province of Ilocos Norte to commemorate the birthday of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

With 197 votes in the affirmative, nine in the negative, and one abstention, the chamber approved House Bill 7137, which sets September 11 of every year as "President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Day" in Ilocos Norte.

The measure was introduced by Ilocos Norte Representatives Angelo Marcos Barba and Ria Fariñas, and Probinsyano Ako party-list Representative Rudys Caesar Fariñas.

The approval of the measure in the House came just nine days before the 103rd birth anniversary of the late President.

Marcos was born on September 11, 1917 in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, and went on to become the representative of Ilocos Norte's second district at the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959.

He was then elected as a Senator of the Philippines before becoming the 10th president of the country in 1965.

Marcos declared martial law in 1972 before his second and last term ended.

Corruption, rights violations

His administration was marked by massive corruption and human rights violations.

In 2003, the Supreme Court also ruled with finality that the 10,000 human rights victims during Marcos’ martial law regime were entitled to this compensation from Marcos' $10 billion Swiss bank deposits, which the ruling also deemed to be ill-gotten.

In 2012, then President Benigno Aquino III signed the Marcos Compensation Law which granted financial remuneration to victims of human rights violations during the Martial Law years—violations that included summary executions, enforced disappearances and torture—using the late dictator's and his family P10 billion in ill-gotten wealth, retrieved by the Philippine government from Swiss banks.

At least five ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcoses were dismissed by the Sandiganbayan in 2019 but the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had  recovered at least P171 billion worth of Marcos loot since 1987.

There are also at least 12 ill-gotten wealth cases pending against the Marcos family before the Sandiganbayan.

'Love for Ilocanos'

"His extraordinary display of leadership and incomparable brilliance serves as an inspiration to his fellow Ilocanos," Barba said in the explanatory note of his bill.

"He is a man of vision, action, and wisdom. Thus, it is only necessary that his life, works, remarkable achievements, and inherent love for his fellow Ilocanos be remembered," he added.

Marcos held the highest government position in the country for two decades until 1986, when he was removed from power following the bloodless first EDSA People Power Revolution.

Corazon Aquino, widow of assassinated Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., succeeded Marcos in the presidency. —LDF/NB, GMA News