Former Senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. said he "cannot apologize for somebody else" over reported human rights abuses during his father's term.

This was the reaction of Marcos, who is running for president in the 2022 May election, on the apologies that families of human rights victims during Martial Law are asking from the family of late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

"For me. If I hurt anyone because of my wrong action of mind, somebody was hurt or somebody got problem, I will be happy to apologize. But I cannot apologize for what other people have done, I cannot apologize for somebody else. That is what I always say and in the end, let's allow the objective study of history to be the final arbiter of that period of history," he said in dzBB presidential interview on Saturday.

"All of the people have their rights to their own opinions, If that is what they think, we cannot do anything about it," Marcos added when asked how he feels being called as the son of the former dictator.

Marcos said it is not the right time to talk about history as the country is facing a crisis brought about by poverty.

"Let us talk about that but we should first address the problem that we have now. We are really in a crisis as many Filipinos are suffering from poverty. In my opinion, there is a right time and place to talk about that but not now," he said.

"Are we going to debate about the history of the Philippines if we need to discuss the steps that we should do next year to help the poor people earn to support their needs?" he added.

Marcos also noted that the discussion about history should be entrusted to historians. Robina Asido/DMS