Aquino family dissociates from remarks likening Duterte fate to Ninoy

Metro Manila, Philippines - The Aquino family has dissociated from the remarks likening the circumstance of former President Rodrigo Duterte to opposition leader and late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

The family released a statement on Monday, March 24, after Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said her father may suffer the same fate as Aquino, who was assassinated at the airport tarmac after his flight landed at the then Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport) in 1983.

“Kung pag-aaralan natin ang kasaysayan, makikita natin na ibang iba ang ginawa kay Ninoy sa pinagdadaanan ngayon ni dating Pang. Duterte,” the family said.

[Translation: If we study history, we can see that what was done to Ninoy was far from what former President Duterte is going through.]

Duterte has been under the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands after he was arrested for crimes against humanity linked to his brutal drug war.

The vice president said her father wanted to go home, but she warned him that he may end up like the democracy icon.

Aquino was a staunch critic of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, the father and namesake of the current president.