By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA
President Benigno Aquino III has warned the Philippines against choosing a successor looking to extend the presidential term of rule in next year's election.
Philstar.com quoted the president as saying Friday that he is not in favor of extending the term beyond its present six-years, saying this could lead to another dictatorship.
Aquino's father, the former senator Benigno Aquino, was assassinated during the rule of President Ferdinand Marcos who ruled the Philippines for 20 years.
Marcos had returned to the Philippines from exile in the United States in 1983 to challenge the late dictator, when he was shot while alighting from a plane at Manila international airport.
The assassin was then shot by police and soldiers, leaving his motive unclear.
The assassination sparked indignation rallies that led to the so-called People Power revolution that forced Marcos and his family to flee the country and catapulted Aquino III's mother Cory to the presidency.
"In my opinion that's wrong," Aquino said of candidates looking to extend the term.
"And then we will give him the opportunity to repeat what happened in 1972, isn't it? Two terms had been completed and Martial Law was imposed," Aquino said, referring to Marcos.
Aquino warned Friday that one presidential aspirant is already preparing to extend the term.
"One term is enough," he said, stressing that a president should perform his best in just one term and let his successor continue or complete the work.
Aquino's comments were made as he rallies support for his anointed candidate, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
Roxas will face Vice President Jejomar Binay in the May 9 race, who he lost to in the vice presidential election in 2010.
Binay has been reported as saying he would seek an unlimited term if he is elected.
However, his camp has clarified that what Binay wanted was a return to a four-year presidential term with re-election.
