Marcos only bothered by people trying to hurt others during protests

BUSAN, South Korea - President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said on Saturday that he is only bothered by protests when certain individuals intend to harm other people.

At a news conference after the 32nd APEC Summit, Marcos was asked if he was worried about the planned protests against government corruption, especially the one scheduled for November 30.

''No. The only concern I have when we have demonstrations for whatever reason is that there are agitators who will go and try to cause trouble. What demonstrator goes to a demonstration with Molotov cocktails that are not intended to cause trouble or to hurt people? '' Marcos told the Philippine media delegation. 

''Those are the people that we are worried about. And those are the people that we are watching out for. We have a good idea of who they are."

On September 21, several people were arrested for allegedly throwing stones and burning tires during their protest against corruption in Mendiola, Manila. 

Marcos asked those who wished to sow violence to get rid of these thoughts.

"Tanggalin na ninyo sa isip ninyo 'yan. Manggugulo kayo. Wala namang mangyayari. May masasaktan lang. Nasasaktan pa yung mga kasama ninyo kung minsan," Marcos said.

(Put that out of your mind. You're going to make trouble. Nothing will happen. You'll just get hurt. Sometimes your colleagues get hurt too.)

He said policemen are deployed in protest areas to maintain peace and order. 

"They're just there to control the crowd. They're not there to hurt anyone. So that's the only thing I worry about,'' he added. 

Marcos also pointed out the reason why people are bringing their anger to the streets.

''The reason is the outrage for what we have been slowly or not so slowly discovering about some of these projects that were egregious in implementation and shameless in... I don't know what you want to call it, dishonesty and abuse,'' Marcos said.

''Of course, that will be a cause for outrage,'' noting that public funds are supposed to be used to feed the people and make their lives better, but these were being stolen by others for their own welfare. —VBL, GMA Integrated News