鈥楴ot fitting鈥� to call for People Power over Duterte arrest – Aquino kin
Kiko Aquino Dee, grandson of the late former President Coarazon “Cory” Aquino and Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, speaks to the media in an interview after a Holy Mass in solidarity with victims of extrajudicial killings of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs at the Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (Edsa) Shrine on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Jason Sigales/黑料社)
MANILA, Philippines — Kiko Aquino Dee, grandson of the late former President Corazon Aquino and Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino on Wednesday said it was “not fitting” to call for people power in response to the
“I think yung mga nananawagan ng people power, sana intindihin niyo talaga nang maayos kung ano yung pinaninindigan niyo,” Dee said in a chance interview on Wednesday.
(To those calling for people power, please understand well what you’re fighting for.)
“Kung titignan niyo yung (1986) People Power, ang pinanindigan niya noon ay na hindi pwedeng bawiin sa taumbayan, yung kalayaan, hindi pwedeng bawiin sa taumbayan yung buhay… so hindi siguro akma na yun yung ginagamit nila,” he added.
(If you look at the 1986 People Power, what it stood for was that the people’s freedom can never be taken away, that the people’s lives can never be taken away… so it’s not fitting that that is what they’re using.)
Dee was at a Holy Mass at the Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (Edsa) Shrine on Wednesday, held in solidarity with families of victims of extrajudicial killings during Duterte’s bloody drug war.
“Hindi firm yung prinsipyo nila (Duterte supporters calling for people power),” he said.
(Their principles are not firm.)
“Ngayong biglang nagkakagulo, kailangan nila mag-rely sa dating bihis ng People Power, kailangan nila mag-rely sa imahe ng People Power para ma-argue yung punto nila, na yun din yung imahe na isinantabi nila nung panahon ni Duterte,” Dee stressed.
(Now that suddenly there’s trouble, they have to rely on the old identity of People Power, they have to rely on the image of People Power to argue their point, the very same image that they cast aside during the time of Duterte.)
Duterte was arrested by authorities on Tuesday morning upon arrival from Hongkong at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
He was the subject of a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity in relation to his administration’s bloody anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Around 6,200 deaths related to the drug war were recorded by government sources, but human rights groups place the death toll at as high as 20,000.
The former president was held at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City before being sent to The Hague, Netherlands to face the ICC via a chartered flight.
His supporters gathered outside the air base to call for his release.
When asked about Duterte supporters calling for people power in response to his arrest, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government was only “doing its job.”
