EDSA 1 was a failure, Marcos son says

(Updated 4:55 p.m.) The son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos branded the 1986 People Power Revolution a failure on Monday, exactly 24 years after the historic popular uprising ended his father’s 20-year rule. In a statement, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said his father's rule was so much better than the administration that followed it, saying poverty worsened after EDSA 1. "Bigo ang Edsa 1! Lumala lamang ang kahirapan at hindi nagawang linisin sa katiwalian ang bukurukrasya ng pamahalaan (EDSA 1 was a failure! Poverty worsened and the government was not able to clean up the bureaucracy)," Bongbong said. "Sa ilalim ng dating pamahalaang Marcos, higit na may direksyon ang gobyerno nito. May malinaw na programa at plataporma ang pamahalaang Marcos (The Marcos administration had direction. It had a clear program and platform)," he added. But presidential aspirant Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, son of former President Corazon Aquino, believed otherwise. In an interview with reporters in Bulacan where he was campaigning, Aquino maintained that EDSA 1 was not a failure, although he “understands" Bongbong's statements as the Marcoses suffered a major fall in the wake of the EDSA revolt. "We can understand where he [Bongbong] is coming from. After EDSA, ordinary Filipinos who had known suffering during the dictatorship were suddenly free, while the Marcoses fell from their posts as gods," Aquino said in Filipino. He noted that while Gross Domestic Product was at a historic low in 1985 under Marcos, it improved dramatically within 10 months under his mother's watch. Bongbong is a senatorial candidate under Senator Manny Villar Jr.'s Nacionalista Party. Villar is the closest rival of Aquino. - RSJ, GMANews.TV