Sara Duterte links Marcos family to Ninoy Aquino assassination

Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday said the family of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was behind the murder of former opposition leader and late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

"Oo, di ba, pumalag nga iyong buong bayan nu'ng pinatay ng pamilya nila si Benigno Aquino Jr," the Vice President told reporters at the sidelines of the House panel inquiry on the use of her office's budget.

(Yes, didn't the entire nation push back when their family killed Benigno Aquino Jr?)

Duterte made the remark when she was asked to respond to Marcos' statement that he would block "criminal attempts" to his life.

"'Yang ganyang kriminal na pagtatangka ay hindi dapat pinapalampas. 'Yan ay aking papalagan," Marcos added.

(We should not let these criminal attempts pass us by. I will push back against these.)

GMA News Online has reached out to Malacañang through the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) and the President's older sister, Senator Imee Marcos, regarding Duterte's claim, but they have yet to respond as of posting time.

Aquino was assassinated on Aug. 21, 1983 at the then-Manila International Airport. His death sparked mass protests against the President's father, Ferdinand Sr., who had placed the country under Martial Law from 1972 to 1981, but ruled until he was ousted through a people power revolt in February 1986.

According to a Vera Files report published earlier on GMA News Online, the Marcos patriarch designated the Agrava Commission to investigate Aquino's assassination.

The Commission blamed the incident on a military conspiracy led by Marcos' cousin, then-Armed Forces Chief of Staff Fabian Ver. In December 1985, the Sandiganbayan acquitted Ver and his 25 other co-accused.

When the late senator's wife, Corazon Aquino, became president in 1986, the case was reopened and 16 soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

Three of the convicted soldiers died in prison, while the rest were granted pardon by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The soldiers had maintained that an assassin, Rolando Galman, was behind Aquino's death.

Her security, too

Meanwhile, Duterte said early Saturday morning that she already ordered an assassin to kill the First Couple and Speaker Martin Romualdez should a plot to have her murdered succeeds.

Romualdez and Marcos Jr. are cousins.

Duterte had also previously claimed that Romualdez was plotting to kill her. Romualdez has since denied this.

The vice president has also accused the administration of being unfair in assessing threats to the security of government officials, although she said that she did not inform them of the threats against her in official communications.

"Nag-complain ako noon (I complained previously), if you can remember, in the media, and then they dismissed it. Everything [about the threat to my life] is well-documented, with documents and videos," she said.

"The NSC said that the threat to the President is a national security concern. But apparently, they really do not consider the threat to the vice president as anything of a concern. What kind of country is this? Hindi ba kaparte ng gobyerno ang vice president? Hindi ba ako binoto ng mga tao?" she added, referring to the National Security Council's pronouncement that threats to the President's life is a matter of national security.

Asked if she will take legal action concerning the threats to her life, she said it would be a futile exercise.

"I do not expect fairness from this government," she said.

Duterte also questioned on Monday why she was not invited to the recent NSC meeting even if she is an ex-officio member of the council in her capacity as vice president.

"I would like to see a copy of the notice of meeting with proof of service, the list of attendees, photos of the meeting, and the notarized minutes of meeting where the Council, whether present or past, resolved to consider the remarks by a vice president against a President, maliciously taken out of logical context, as a national security concern," Duterte said.

"Moreover, please submit within 24 hours, an explanation in writing with legal basis why the VP is not a member of the NSC or why as member I have not been invited to the meetings, whichever is applicable," she added. — VDV, GMA Integrated News