Nancy Binay: My dad was arrested during Marcos’s martial law

FILE: Senator Nancy Binay (Photo: Nancy Binay/Facebook)

Contrary to the claim of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile earlier, Senator Nancy Binay said her father was jailed during the late strongman’s, Ferdinand Marcos, martial rule.

Speaking with the reporters on Monday, September 24, Binay recalled that her mother used to visit her father, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, in jail.

“Nakulong din ‘yung daddy ko… habang pinagbubuntis ako, dinadalaw ng mommy ko ‘yung daddy ko sa kulungan. Kaya ang sabi ko, nasa tiyan pa lang ako, na-i-stress na ako (My dad was also jailed… When my mother was pregnant with me, she visits my dad in prison. That’s why I said I’m still in my mother’s womb but I was already stressed),” the younger Binay said.

She also recalled that when she was little, her dad used to call her ‘Maki,’ short for ‘Makibaka’ which means to participate in a fight for whatever is the cause.

The senator said she and her siblings grew up joining rallies and would walk from Buendia Avenue, now known as Senator Gil Puyat Avenue, to Liwasang Bonifacio, formerly known as Plaza Lawton, in Manila.

“Based doon kinalakihan ko, ganito ‘yung nakita ko during those period. I mean it’s a factnanakulong ‘yung ama ko. Lumaki ako na nag-ra-rally kami. Tanda ko pa nga every Christmas ginagawa namin bumibisita kami sa mga political prisoners katulad nila Satur Ocampo, sila Crispin Beltran (Based on what I grew up with, this is what I witnessed during that period. I mean it is a fact that my dad was arrested. I grew up joining rallies. I remember that every Christmas we visit political prisoners like Satur Ocampo and Crispin Beltran),” the lady senator said as she recounted the struggles that she and her family went through during the what is considered as one of the darkest periods in Philippine history.

“Ang kinalakihan ko pa si Senator Joker Arroyo, si Senator Rene Saguisag (I also remember Senator Joker Arroyo and Senator Rene Saguisag),” she added.

The younger Binay refused to answer the question on whether she got ‘offended’ by Enrile’s apparent attempt to ‘distort’ what really transpired during the Marcos regime, but she acknowledged that there are differences in perspective since not everyone was in the same situation during that period.

“May mga struggle talaga na nagaganap. Siguro kasi iba lang ‘yung kinalalagyan ni Senator Enrile, iba rin yung kinalalagyan namin ngayon kaya nagkakaroon ng difference doon sa perspective (There were really struggles that happened. Maybe Senator Enrile was in different place, and we are also in different situation now that is why there are differences in perspectives),” she explained.

In a one-on-one interview with former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., son of the late dictator, Enrile stressed that ‘none’ were put behind bars neither because of their “political or religious belief” nor for criticizing the former President during his regime. Enrile served as Marcos’s defense minister.

“That we had 70,000 arrested, which was not true! Maybe if they will include the people who violate curfew and jaywalkers, maybe you can reach that number,” Enrile said.

“Of course, if you are a member of the rebel group or a warlord or someone who violated the criminal law, you had to be arrested, whether you have martial law or not,” he added.

The video of the interview was uploaded by the younger Marcos on his Facebook page, just a day before the 46th anniversary of the martial law declaration.

Before the younger Binay, the family of late Senator Jose “Pepe” Diokno had earlier refuted Enrile’s remarks.

“We name one: our father. In his nearly two years in prison, Dad was never interrogated and was never charged. The Supreme Court itself acknowledged Marcos’s political motive for arresting Dad,” the Diokno family said.

The late statesman, a human rights advocate, was among the first to be arrested when the Marcos placed the country under martial law on September 21, 1972.

Malacañang, for its part, believed that the younger Marcos and Enrile cannot twist history, especially “when there’s a law and when there are court decisions attesting to what happened during martial law.”