Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for senator in the May 2022 polls, took time to make a video presentation to clarify to supporters of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. the misconceptions they have about the EDSA People Power 1.
This is just in time for the celebration of the 36th anniversary of the peaceful people power revolt on Friday, Feb. 25.
The video is the second part of the series wherein the former Navy officer talked with Levy, Tina, and Dunkin, all Marcos supporters, about their reasons for wanting to vote for the former senator, as well as their misgivings about Vice President Leni Robredo.
Trillanes is running under the ticket of Robredo and running mate, Senator Kiko Pangilinan.
Tina told the former senator that she was against the privatization of public utility companies after the EDSA people power revolt that toppled the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986.
Trillanes explained that the utility companies had to be privatized because the government was losing money from managing them.
“So dahil dun, dahil pina-privatize iyon, hindi na tayo nag-aabono. Lalaki ‘yung pondo ng Pilipinas para sa ibang programa (Because of that, because they were privatized, we don’t need to spend on it. The Philippines will have more funds for other programs),” he said in the video posted on his Facebook page.
“Yun po ang nangyari at hindi lang naman sa Pilipinas ginagawa iyon. Halos lahat ng mga progresibong mga bansa ay talagang nasa private sector na ‘yung mga ganyang services para mas efficient yung kanilang serbisyo (That’s what happened because it’s not only the Philippines where that is being done. Almost all services of progressive countries are with the private sector so their services can become more efficient),” he added.
The Magdalo leader also revealed that certain companies were sequestered in the aftermath of EDSA as these were suspected as having been acquired with the use of public funds during the Marcos regime. However, certain Marcos 'cronies' presented themselves to the public as the companies ' owners. and though they were owned by others in paper, it was later found out through court cases that indeed, the Marcoses gained ownership of these companieds with the use of public funds.
“Kaya sabi ko nga, hindi naman puputok nang basta ‘yung mga Pilipino nang ganun, na babahain ng tao ang EDSA nang walang dahilan (That’s why I was saying, the Filipinos are not going to explode like that, flooding EDSA without reason),” Trillanes, whose own father was a military officer who joined EDSA 1, said.
Though the Marcos years build 'landmark' infrastructures such as the San Juanico Bridge and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the senatorial candidate questioned why Filipinos would’ve wanted them gone if those were the country’s golden years.
Trillanes also asked the supporters what any “actual projects” Marcos Jr. has done. The supporters said they have no idea and that he might have done something in his hometown.
Asked about Imelda Marcos, the presidential candidate’s mother, the supporters described her as “brave.”
Despite being ostentatious, they claimed that these things were just given to the Marcos matriarch and that the Marcos family can afford the thousands of shoes and billions worth of jewelry because Marcos Sr. was once a lawyer to a rich family.
“Pero alam nyo na halos hindi nakapag-practice itong si Marcos, the father sa pagiging abogado kaso after the World War II, eventually nung pagkapasa niya nung bar, tumakbo na siya sa pagka-congressman pa ‘yan una eh (But do you know that Marcos the father almost wasn’t able to practice law because after World War II, eventually he passed the bar, he run for congressman),” Trillanes explained.
“Tsaka hindi naman automatic, siguro hindi ba pagka-abogado bilyonaryo ka agad? Hindi ba (And it’s not automatic, when you become a lawyer are you a billionaire immediately? No, right)?,” he added.