President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. wants the Philippines to continue commemorating the deadly typhoon Yolanda years after it hit the country to keep the memory of those who perished.
Marcos, during the 9th year commemoration of super typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City on Tuesday, Nov. 8, enjoined the nation to keep remembering those "who we were told not to remember" including the "uncounted" deaths.
"So why continue? Why bring it up? I come here because I must commemorate those uncounted dead that up to now we do not know how many that number is. We must come to these commemorations so that we will remember those who we were told not to remember," Marcos said.
'Because as I said, in a way, we were told to forget about them. And we will not forget about them. And we cannot forget about them. And I know you do not forget about them. That is why we continue to commemorate Yolanda and we continue to grieve our dead. Because we not only grieve the dead that are here, but we also grieve for those who we do not even know how many they are, who they are, and where they are," he added.
The President said that commemoration is also a demonstration and a manifestation of the strength and courage of Filipinos.
He also brought up the unaccounted deaths of the Yolanda tragedy, which, he said, is also a part of the commemoration. He believes that there were more deaths than those that were reported.
"If you remember during the count of the casualties, the count was stopped. And we knew that there were still thousands out there. And for those thousands, those countless thousands, we come here, we commemorate. Because if we no longer commemorate, their memory dies. And it is only up to us to keep (their) memory alive," he said.
Before ending his speech, he asked those who were at the commemoration program to take a moment of silence and remember those who have been taken away from us.