BATAC CITY, Ilocos Norte — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. called on Filipinos to learn from the values of his late father, former president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., saying that citizens must always choose to be “on the right side of history” despite hardships.

Speaking at the commemoration of the elder Marcos’ 108th birth anniversary, the President said his father instilled the importance of doing the right thing even when it was the most difficult choice.

“He would constantly say, ‘Do not take, never take the easy way out.’ In other words, make sure that what you are doing is the right thing, no matter how difficult it is… Sometimes the best thing to do, the most honorable thing to do, is the hardest thing that you have to do,” Marcos Jr. said after leading a wreath-laying ceremony at the Daytoy ti Bannawag Monument in Batac City.

He also stressed that his father’s legacy emphasized protecting the dignity of Filipinos. “These are the many, many lessons: that we must maintain always our dignity, and we must always respect the dignity of every Filipino. And not only respect the dignity of every Filipino, but we must fight for the dignity of every Filipino,” he said.

Marcos Jr. urged Filipinos to live up to his father’s standards by fulfilling their civic responsibilities.