Philippine leader says calling his father dictator `wrong’

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says it’s wrong to describe his late father as a dictator and that his brutal martial law rule in the 1970s was not meant to prolong his grip on power. His comments were immediately rejected by human rights activists. The namesake son of the former president who was ousted in a 1986 pro-democracy uprising also denied in a TV interview aired that he and his family are whitewashing history. The elder Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972, a year before his term was to expire, and ruled by decree. Marcos Jr. defended that decision by repeating his father’s justification that martial law was crucial to fight growing Muslim and communist insurgencies.