Survivors of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s martial law dubbed as deceitful and misleading the advertisement alleging the 1987 Philippine Constitution is to blame for the country’s poverty and the government’s corruption.
The group Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) in a statement said the “EDSA-pwera” (left-out) campaign that seeks amendments to the Constitution said personalities behind it are also “grossly anti-people.”
“What they think of as witty wordplay is not only misleading but deceitful,” CARMMA in a statement said, adding that the ad also falsely claims that Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship was an era of economic prosperity in the Philippines.
Released as signature-buying sprees for a so-called people’s initiative for charter change have been reported, the ad said it is time to discuss amendments to the 1987 charter—also called the EDSA Constitution after the 1986 People Power uprising that ousted the Marcos Sr. dictatorship.
The ad, placed by the firm Gana Atienza Avizado Law, claims the Constitution encouraged neglect of social services, corruption, and gross profiteering while prohibiting foreign ownership of lands and businesses, thus preventing economic progress.
But CARMMA said that while the 1987 Constitution does not fully represent the interests and demands of the people, the claims made in the video are a misrepresentation of the real problems of the people.
“In fact, this provision in the 1987 constitution was included to remedy the Marcos dictatorship’s unhampered exposure of the Philippine economy to foreign plunder, to the detriment of local production, especially manufacturing. This, coupled with the Marcos clique’s own rapacity, bled our country dry,” the group added.
Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III, a supporter of the People Power uprising, also called the video “untruthful and inaccurate,” adding the charter is not the problem but the people who implement it.
Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman, whose activist brother Atty. Harmon Lagman was disappeared under the Marcos dictatorship, also criticized the video, saying “”The ad is crudely crafted and there is nothing substantial conveyed in the message.”
“The ‘EDSA-pwera’ Charter Change ad campaign is part of the Marcos family’s continuing demonization of the EDSA People’s Power Revolution which ousted the Marcos dictatorship and helped install the ‘Cory Constitution’ or the present 1987 Philippine Constitution,” Lagman said.
Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives said they are considering asking Congress to conduct investigations if public funds have been used in the production and broadcast of the video and signature-buying activities in Albay and Sorsogon provinces.
Gana Atienza Avizado Law said the ad is a private initiative by their “small law firm,” assisted by an advertising agency.
Website abogado.com.ph said the law firm counts among its clients political big-wigs such as the Romualdezes who are cousins with President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
