Marcos on FM ouster, exile: No forgiveness needed

SAN FRANCISCO – While he is willing to forgive those who had caused the fall from power of his late father and namesake nearly four decades ago, President Marcos said he is convinced they do not need his forgiveness.

Asked during a media interview yesterday if he has forgiven the people who ousted his father and caused his family to be exiled to Hawaii, Marcos replied: “I don’t need to forgive them. I never blamed them... That’s how things happen.”

“They don’t need my forgiveness. If they want it, I will give it to them. But I don’t need to. They don’t need my forgiveness,” he added.

Marcos claimed he does not take things personally and that it just happened that he and his family’s critics have had clashing points of view.

“If this is what they believe that they should do, then my thinking and view differ from theirs. I will fight for my beliefs. They fought for their beliefs. That was the result. Then so be it. It’s life. That’s what life – well, at least my life, that’s what it’s like, that’s what it’s about,” he said.

Marcos is on a week-long trip to the US, including a visit to Hawaii where his family was exiled after the historic 1986 People Power Revolution. The military-backed revolt ousted the late president Ferdinand Marcos and installed Corazon Aquino, the widow of the late opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., to power. The Marcos family lived in exile in Hawaii for seven years from 1986 to 1993. The President will fly to Hawaii from Los Angeles today.

Marcos said he does not feel that he is coming in full circle now that he is visiting his family’s place of exile as the country’s leader.

“Despite the circumstances of our enforced stay in Hawaii, Hawaii is... a great place to be,” the President said.

“And then, we made very many friends. Of course, we were sad because we could not go home. But that doesn’t detract from how kind we were treated, the hospitality that we were afforded.”

According to Marcos, his two-day visit to the island would be an opportunity to see his old friends.

“I try to go to as many of the Filipino communities I possibly can... It would be silly not to come from the West Coast and going back to Manila without passing by