By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

Philippine rights groups launched a movement Thursday against the vice presidential campaign of the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Among the groups are those who have taken up the cause of Filipinos who suffered under Marcos’ 1965-1986 rule, which saw hundreds of outspoken critics of his administration rounded up as the military put an end to newspaper publications and radio and television networks.

His son, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., 58, is contesting the May 9 election for the right-wing Nacionalista Party, the political entity that has ruled the country for much of the last century.

With the launch of the "Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang”, or CARMMA, organizations representing Filipinos who were jailed under the Marcos regime, had relatives who disappeared or were exposed to human rights abuses have voiced strong opposition to the young Marcos' candidacy.

They have claimed that he is “not guiltless as he presents to be," and that the Marcos family has “a bottomless war chest that he can use to win the vice presidency,” ABS-CBN News reported Thursday.

Bonifacio Ilagan -- vice chairman of SELDA, an organization of former martial law prisoners, was quoted as underlining “the reality that the plundered wealth of the father has been passed on to his children".

Meanwhile, Judy Taguiwalo, professor at the University of the Philippines, described Marcos Jr. as a “liar” who “arrogantly peddles the lie that his father's [rule] was legitimate”.

The senator has drawn criticism for not apologizing for his father’s rule, accused of violations such as serious human rights abuses and the plunder of billions of dollars.

In an interview in August, Marcos Jr. had stressed that his father had contributed to the development of the country, referring to the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, energy and education as examples.

“What am I to say sorry about?'' he had asked ANC’s Headstart program. He nonetheless acknowledged that he and his family feel sorry for people who felt injustice during the senior Marcos’ rule, but called such cases “instances that have fallen through the cracks”.

In Sept. 1972, late President Marcos had placed the Philippines under martial rule under the pretext of the threat of the growing communist movement and the Moro Muslim rebellion in the south.

He then ruled the country with an iron fist -- only lifting martial law in early 1981.

He was toppled by the so-called People Power rallies in 1986, triggered by the assassination of former senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., the father of outgoing President Benigno Aquino III.

The uprising catapulted Aquino III's mother Corazon to the presidency and forced Marcos into exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1989.

In 1991, his family returned to the Philippines, where Marcos Jr. has been serving as a senator since 2010.

His sister Imee serves as governor of northern Ilocos Norte and his mother Imelda as a House of Representatives member for the province’s Second District.

According to the groups that launched the CARMMA initiative, the younger Marcos is “even more frightening than his father” due to his unwillingness to apologize.

As they prepare for a nationwide event on Feb. 22, they have pledged to “hound” his election campaign and engage in efforts against him on social media.

According to surveys conducted last month, support for Marcos has increased from 19 percent in December to 25 percent, according to ABS-CBN.

Support for the frontrunner, Senator Francis Escudero of the center-right Nationalist People's Coalition, stood at 28 percent.