Children Of Deadly Foes Kiss, Make Up Son Of Late Dictator Ferdinand Marcos Interviewed On TV Talk Show By Daughter Of Corazon Aquino.

Men whose fathers were ruthless dictators and the women whose mothers exiled them - on the next Oprah?

Close.

In a spectacle worthy of Geraldo and Montel, the son of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, laughed, talked and exchanged kisses with a daughter of slain opposition leader Benigno Aquino on live television Monday night.

Kris Aquino, 23-year-old host of a talk show on the government-controlled RPN-9 station, interviewed Congressman Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., 36. Her mother, former President Corazon Aquino, has accused the elder Marcos of masterminding her husband’s killing.

The next generation was more conciliatory.

“In fairness, everytime I see Bongbong, he is so intelligent and he is so articulate, he does not look like he could kill another person,” Ms. Aquino said.

In 1983, Ms. Aquino’s father was assassinated by a soldier as he returned from exile in the United States.

Three years later, an uprising drove the Marcoses into exile in Hawaii and installed Corazon Aquino as president. Marcos died in Honolulu three years later.

Ms. Aquino and the younger Marcos, who represents his father’s home province in the legislature, seemed at ease during the 30-minute interview. Talk soon turned to politics.

“Did you hate us?” she asked. “I almost thought you had the horns (like the devil) because, of course, that was how I was brought up.”

Replied Marcos: “Maybe in the beginning, that was the reaction - ‘Why are people like this?’ But life is really like that and you cannot do anything. Just get on with it.”

Ms. Aquino was 18 months old when Marcos’ father declared martial law in 1972. She grew up seeing her own father in jail.

“I remember of course, your Mom was very nice to my Dad when he had a heart attack and she facilitated our leaving for America,” she said. “So I am not blinded totally that all you did was evil.”

At the end of the program, in grand talk-TV style, the two kissed each other on the cheeks to the cheers of the studio audience.

Ms. Aquino, who is not married, shocked her mother and the predominantly Roman Catholic nation last month when she confirmed she was pregnant by a married actor nearly twice her age.