SAN Francisco, California—In a position paper personally delivered to President Benigno Aquino III, almost a hundred prominent and influential Filipino-Americans, including staunch Aquino supporters in the last elections, urged him to take charge of the issue regarding the reburial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.
Very disturbing
“Mr. President, your seeming abnegation of responsibility on this important issue is very disturbing. By passing this onus to the vice president, the perception is that as President, you do not want to provide the proper leadership to protect the people and nation from being dishonored and insulted by the possible hero burial of a despotic corrupt former president,” the paper stated.
The group of business people, lawyers, doctors, lawyers, academicians, writers and community leaders refer to themselves as “US Pinoys for Good Governance.”
“Instead of insisting that Marcos be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani which theoretically is a cemetery for heroes and therefore he does not belong there, his family should just refurbish his present Ilocos tomb to look maybe like Lenin’s or Mao’s and turn it into a shrine for themselves and their followers,” New York-based community leader and philanthropist Loida Nicholas Lewis, chair of the group, said.
Credibility at stake
“I hope he (Aquino) will listen. His credibility and his future are at stake here,” said prominent Nevada heart surgeon Dr. Philip Chua. “I sense even his most ardent supporter will be turned off if Marcos is buried as a hero under his watch.”