Ateneo president apologizes over Irene Marcos presence on campus; Arete head ‘voluntarily’ resigns

“The University recognizes that her presence, even in a personal capacity, has cast doubts regarding its solidarity with the victims of the Martial Law regime. We offer our deepest apologies for the hurt this has brought,” ADMU President Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, SJ said. (File photo: Ateneo de Manila University/Facebook)

The president of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) issued a public apology for the presence of Irene Marcos-Araneta, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in the campus last April 7.

“The University recognizes that her presence, even in a personal capacity, has cast doubts regarding its solidarity with the victims of the Martial Law regime. We offer our deepest apologies for the hurt this has brought,” ADMU President Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, SJ said in his memo dated April 10 but was only released by ADMU on its Facebook page on Friday, April 12.

The young Marcos attended the opening of the university’s Outdoor Art Installation program in Arete — the ADMU’s creative hub that staged Dekada ’70, a polemical discourse against the fascist-authoritarian regime of martial law; and Desaparecidos, a play that showcased the struggles and abuses endured by Filipinos during martial law and the trauma it left to them.

The Sanggunian ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila (Sanggu), the school’s student council, earlier demanded an apology for inviting the former president’s daughter at the event, saying that her presence in the school ground was a “grave insult and vehement mockery” to all martial law survivors and martyrs.

“Arete’s invitation of a Marcos appears as a form of shameless compliance to the very movement that the Ateneo vehemently opposes, the erasure of Martial Law crimes from history and from the present discourse during the campaign period of the 2019 Senatorial Elections,” Sanggu said.

[READ: Ateneo’s Sanggunian slams Irene Marcos invite to campus, demands apology]

Villarin, however, explained that this incident did not mean that the university has “turned a blind eye” on what had happened during Marcos’s martial law regime.

“If anything, they have strengthened the University’s unfailing commitment to help seek justice for the victims of the regime, to counter historical revisionism and to educate the Ateneo community regarding the regime’s pernicious effects on Philippine society,” he said.

Arete head resigns

After receiving criticisms for the incident, Villarin also said Yael Buencamino, the executive director of Arete who personally invited the young Marcos to the event, has “voluntarily” offered to step down from her post.

“I have accepted her resignation as Executive Director, even as I acknowledge with gratitude her exemplary performance in shepherding Arete during this nascent stage of its development,” he said.

“Ms. Buencamino’s expertise is in the field of art and its interface with education, and we look forward to her continuing contribution to this field here at the Ateneo de Manila,” he continued.

This was not the first time Villarin made a public apology. He issued one in 2014 after the attendance of former First Lady Imelda Marcos at the 40th anniversary of the Ateneo Scholarship Foundation (ASF) drew flak.