THE next President must not make it a government policy to jail political foes as this is counterproductive and divides Filipinos, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Friday.
Marcos made the remark after Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is running for president in 2016, aired his sentiment on Wednesday against the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
Binay has accused the Aquino government of being incompetent and numb and implementing selective justice.
“We should do away with what we have been seeing in the past few years when recent administrations adopted a deliberate campaign of vengeance against their political foes, practically making it a national policy,” Marcos said in a radio interview.
Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sent her predecessor, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, to jail on charges of plunder.
Arroyo met the same fate under the Aquino administration. The President even successfully ousted then Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona who was an Arroyo appointee.
Many political analysts believe Aquino may also suffer the same fate of Arroyo and Estrada after the high court declared unconstitutional the current administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program, which funneled billions of public funds into various projects.
If the President had indeed violated the laws, Marcos said Aquino should face charges that may be filed against him after his term.
The senator, however, said the next administration should not have a direct hand in the filing of such charges and should treat them as any ordinary criminal case.
“The top priority of the next President is not to go after political opponents and play politics. His priority should be how to push the development of our country, how to improve the lives of our people, and how to grow the economy,” Marcos said. (Sunnex)