Marcos in Pampanga: Allow Arroyo to get treatment abroad

PAMPANGA, Philippines – Wasn’t prisoner Ninoy Aquino allowed to seek treatment in the United States?

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr pointed this out on Tuesday, March 29, to drive him his point that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is detained in a government hospital over plunder charges, should be allowed to seek medical attention abroad.

Marcos, who is running for vice president, was campaigning in Pampanga, the home province of Arroyo where she is also congresswoman now.

The anti-graft court under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III has denied Arroyo’s petition for bail, and has not allowed her to see her doctors abroad despite her worsening spine problem and the United Nations’ opinion that her continued detention violates international law.

Asked by reporters to comment about Arroyo’s continued detention, Marcos said: “Hindi namin maintindihan kung bakit hindi siya pinapayagang magpagamot. Kung may kaso siya, may kaso siya. Pero may sakit eh. The very least pagamutin natin. Kung maaalala ‘nyo, kahit si Ninoy Aquino eh pinapunta sa States dahil may karamdaman sa puso.”

(We can’t understand why she’s being prevented from seeking treatment. If she has a case, then she has case. But she’s sick. At the very least, let her seek treatment. If you will remember, even Ninoy Aquino was allowed to go to the States because of his heart problem.)

Ninoy Aquino is the late father of President Aquino. He was detained during the regime of Marcos’ father and namesake, dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Marcos Jr recalled the time his mother, former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos visited Arroyo at the hospital in 2014 after learning that the government was refusing to allow the former president to leave abroad for medical treatment.

“Tatakas ba ‘yon? Hindi naman. Kahit sino naman dapat, may kaso o wala, eh pabayaan mong magpagamot. (Is she going to escape? I don’t think so. Whoever is sick, whether facing charges or not, should be allowed to seek treatment.) I don’t understand the policy of the government. It is very un-Filipino,” he said.

Marcos said he hopes to get the backing of Arroyo and her supporters in Pampanga. “I hope that she and her people, her leaders, will join us.”

 

In a press conference at the Bale Balita (House of News) here, Marcos said he believes local leaders cross party lines to support their national bets.

“Sa palagay ko, kahit saan sila partido, kahit sinasabing meron silang sinusundang lineup, merong official na sinusuportahan, eh nagdedesisyon ang bawat mga mayor, barangay captain, mga leader, governor sa kanilang sarili kung sino sa kanilang palagay ang dapat nilang suportahan. Kaya inaasahan ko na sa pag-ikot natin dito sa Pampanga ay maulit ang nangyari sa Tarlac,” he said.

(In my opinion, in whatever party, even if they say are supporting a lineup officially, each mayor, barangay captain, leader, and governor decides on his own whom to support. That’s why I’m hoping that, as I go around here, what happened in Tarlac will also happen in Pampanga.)

On Monday, 4 municipal mayors in the northern part of Tarlac, home province of President Aquino, endorsed Marcos for vice president.

The senator, a member of the Nacionalista Party but running in the vice presidential election as an independent, said many Kapampangan political leaders at the municipal level had expressed their support for him.

“I don’t want to name names just yet. I leave it to them to make the announcement themselves and I do not want to preempt them. Sa mga leader na nakausap namin ay marami nang sumusuporta…at wala pa namang tumanggi sa amin (Many of the leaders who have talked to are supportive…none of them have turned us down),” he said.

It was Marcos’ first time to campaign in Pampanga, “but we already made contacts with leaders even before the start of the campaign period.”  

The first part of the senator’s visit here Tuesday was a meeting with two Aeta organizations at the Marcos Village, which is accessible only via the Clark Free Port Zone. He was greeted by a few hundred Aetas and non-Aetas at the village’s covered court, and treated with an ancestral dance. Most of the locals were wearing Bongbong Marcos caps and T-shirts.

Marcos and his sons – Joseph Simon and William Vincent – even danced with the locals, to the amusement and applause of the spectators.

Asked by Rappler, Marcos said the Aetas gave him letters, requesting “for facilities, for social development.”

The Pampanga leaders who accompanied Marcos in his sorties here included Floridablanca Mayor Eduardo Guerrero, Porac councilor and mayoralty candidate Mike Tapang, Mabalacat Vice Mayor Chistian Halili, former Magalang Mayor Joey Lacson, and former Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo. – Rappler.com