Opposition solons thumb down immunity for Marcoses

Opposition lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Wednesday expressed disapproval to President Rodrigo Duterte's statement that the family of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos might ask for immunity from suit if they return alleged ill-gotten wealth to the Philippine government.

In a statement, Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin said giving immunity to the Marcos family through a passage of a law would send a wrong message to individuals who commit similar crimes.

"Enacting a law giving immunity to the Marcoses would give a wrong signal that committing a crime will pay off in the end as justice is negotiable by the powers that be," Villarin said.

"The irony is that not a single individual from the Marcoses and their cronies have been put to jail and finally through legislative fiat their sins are extinguished and family names polished without a blemish," he added.

In an interview after attending the 55th anniversary celebration of Metrobank on Tuesday, Duterte said the Marcoses will not be willing to return the alleged ill-gotten wealth if they will be detained.

"Then, we have to craft a law on that. And that is immunity," he said.

"Hindi naman mga bobo iyan. 'O sige isauli pero huwag mo akong kulungin.' Ganoon iyan. Otherwise kung kulungin mo, bakit ko isauli?" he added.

But Villarin said returning all the Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth will not put closure to the atrocities of martial law, if they will not acknowledge their crimes or be punished for them.

For his part, Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat noted that immunity is oftentimes reserved for people who less guilty.

"Here, the persons to be immunized are the direct perpetrators or conspirators at the least. And now that they admit having stolen wealth from the people and managed to stash it away despite massive government efforts to recover, they are also obstructors of justice," he said.

Baguilat said that if the President were to push with his idea, it is better to just abandon all concepts of law and justice.

"I can steal anything from anyone, make money out of it for awhile, then offer to return and get amnesty for it. Heck, I may even be buried as a hero," he said.

"But this is more than just the money. It's about justice and accountability for the crimes against the people during Martial Law --- the killings, the torture, the suppression of freedoms and the degradation of our democratic institutions," he added.

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, meanwhile, said giving immunity to the Marcoses is a "mockery of justice."

"A culprit who returns what he has stolen is not liberated from criminal prosecution. It is a mockery of justice and an insult to the aggrieved sovereign people to exempt the Marcoses from criminal culpability in exchange for a few pieces of stolen gold bars or even for their entire ill-gotten hoard," he said.

"A criminal must pay for his crime despite his having belatedly returned the object of his transgression," he added.

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos earlier said there are no negotiations yet between her family and the government on the return of the alleged ill-gotten wealth.

"Wala pa, wala pa. Tiwala kami sa presidente na siya ang makakapagtapos ng deka-dekadang kaso," Governor Marcos said in an ambush interview at the House of Representatives last Thursday.

"Ang pamilya nag-uusap pa, subalit nasa kamay pa ng mga abugado," she added. — RSJ, GMA News