Tarlac City gov't says blocking of Ninoy monument during Bongbong-Sara rally 'unintentional'

Tarlac City government on Monday denied that it disrespected the memory of the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. after his monument was blocked during a campaign rally of the Marcos-Duterte tandem over the weekend.

“The City Government of Tarlac vehemently denies any intention to disrespect the memory of the late Benigno S. Aquino Jr.,” said lawyer Numer Lobo, city administrator, in a statement.

According to Lobo, the tent that covered Aquino’s monument was “originally located at a considerable distance, spacious enough to separate the tent from the monument.”

“However, due may be to the influx of people attending the mentioned rally, owing to the fact that the heat of the sun dictates the need for a shelter, the same tent was inadvertently moved towards the monument, which was unintentional,” Lobo said.

The local government also lamented that the incident supposedly prompted others to “spread divisiveness and highlighted this unintended and unintentional incident, which is not reflective of the whole event and contradictory to its message of hope, positivity and unity.”

Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos and his running-mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, on Saturday wooed residents in Tarlac City.

Ninoy Aquino was a key political opponent of Bongbong Marcos' father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. His widow, Corazon Aquino, replaced the elder Marcos in Malacañang following the 1986 People Power Revolution that ended Marcos' then-decades-old rule. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA News