“Sinabi ko sa kanya, ‘Pa, ‘yong kagustuhan mo na umuwi, iyan din ‘yong katapusan ng buhay mo,’” said Vice President Sara Duterte in a speech on Sunday, March 23, in The Hague, Netherlands. “‘Magiging Ninoy Aquino Jr. ka.’”
She said that she warned her father Rodrigo Duterte against returning to the Philippines, claiming that he may be killed. The former president is currently in the International Criminal Court’s custody in The Hague and cannot yet fly back to the Philippines as he awaits trial for the charge of crimes against humanity under his administration.
While there is technically no “Ninoy Aquino Jr.,” the former education secretary was most likely referring to the late former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who was assassinated upon his return to the Philippines in 1983, during the administration of his political opponent former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Like current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — who goes by the nickname “Bongbong” — Aquino is also often referred to as “Ninoy” without the “Jr.”
‘Like Hitler’
The Aquino family released a short response on social media on Monday afternoon, March 24. “Kung pag-aaralan natin ang kasaysayan, makikita natin na ibang iba ang ginawa kay Ninoy sa pinagdadaanan ngayon ni dating Pangulong Duterte,” the statement read.
On Monday morning, the Malacañang also responded in a press briefing. “Napakalayo pong ikumpara ang dating Pangulong Duterte kay Ninoy Aquino na hindi nagkaroon ng anumang record ng mass murder o crimes against humanity,” said Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro.
Castro also pointed out that the former president had earlier compared himself to Adolf Hitler. “Parang hindi po natin nadinig noon na inihalintulad ni dating Pangulong Duterte ang sarili niya kay Ninoy, kung hindi kay Hitler.”
In a September 2016 speech, the former president said, “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there [are] three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
‘No Time To Be Angry’
In the same speech at Malieveld grass field in The Hague, Vice President Duterte urged supporters to call on the Malacañang and the ICC to bring her father home. Duterte also said she had “no time to be angry.”
“I just need to set up the system here in The Hague so that I can go back home because I have an impeachment case as well that I need to attend to and I have an office, which has projects that I need to be doing,” she said.
She added that she and her half-sister Veronica “Kitty” Duterte will take turns visiting their father in the ICC Detention Center.
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