Rody wants issue buried but it just refuses to die

‘NO!’ TO HERO’S BURIAL FORMARCOS Activists andmembers of several human rights groups show their opposition to government plans to have the remains of Ferdinand Marcos interred at Libingan ng mga Bayani on Sept. 18. Among the oppositors are Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat (second from left), Boni Ilagan of Carmma, Boy Nuera of Pandayan, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman,Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada and human rights activist Susan Quimpo. RICHARD A. REYES

HE WANTS the issue laid to rest but it refuses to die.

More lawmakers and groups on Tuesday joined President Duterte’s party mate, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and defeated running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, in opposing Mr. Duterte’s decision to keep his campaign promise to allow the dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani.

An opposition lawmaker said he would seek the Supreme Court’s intervention to stop the burial of the dictator at Libingan scheduled for next month, even as he and the others were still hoping that the President would still reconsider his position.

But Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the administration would block any legal intervention opposing the President’s decision.

Panelo said the sheer number of votes that Mr. Duterte garnered in the May 9 presidential election gave him the mandate to decide on the matter, pointing out that burying Marcos at Libingan was one of the President’s campaign promises.

“I don’t think there is a legal basis for anybody to file any petition in court,” he told reporters.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, who was tortured and jailed during martial law, said Mr. Duterte made the campaign promise in Ilocos Norte province where he was met by its governor, Imee Marcos.

Petition for injunction

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said he would ask “kindred lawyers” to represent martial law victims and their families and to file a petition for injunction in the Supreme Court against the dictator’s reburial from the family mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte, to the national pantheon in Taguig City.

“The Supreme Court should intervene to stop the projected desecration of Libingan ng mga Bayani,” Lagman said at a news forum.

Lagman noted that the National Historical Commission of the Philippines’ position on why Marcos should not be buried at Libingan and his list of “12 cardinal sins” the dictator had committed against the Filipino people were “more than enough” reasons for the high court to rule against Mr. Duterte’s decision.

Plunder

Among Marcos’ “sins” were his plunder of the economy; his imposition of martial law to perpetuate himself in power that also led to the detention, torture, disappearance and killing of thousands of individuals; and his approval of his cronies “to inordinately and criminally enrich themselves,” Lagman said.

“His day of reckoning is not at Libingan ng mga Bayani,” he said. [His remains should] stay forever in the air-conditioned crypt or buried in anyplace in the Ilocos region.”

‘Time to move on’

For presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella, Marcos’ human rights offenses should not eclipse his service to the country as President and war veteran.

Abella said Marcos was “qualified” to be interred at Libingan “based on certain regulations.”

Quoting the President, Abella said green-lighting the controversial burial was part of Mr. Duterte’s belief that “the whole matter should be laid to rest so we can move on.”

“The President is aware of the protests and he allows … the people to make their own comments, stance and statements. We recognize it,” he said at a press briefing in Malacañang.

“However, from his point of view, it is now time to move on,” he added.

‘Doing right thing’

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said the issue was not about moving on but doing the right thing and honoring real heroes.

“President Marcos does not deserve a place there. There is no justification for it,” he said.

Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro was supportive of the burial of Marcos at Libingan unless critics could prove that he was not qualified.

“The legal principle is if the law does not qualify, we should not qualify. The only qualification he needs is being the President of the Philippines,” he said.

Panelo said the policy crafted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines clearly showed that soldiers and Presidents were allowed to be laid to rest at Libingan.

“On that basis, the late President Marcos is entitled to be buried there,” he said. “According to some oppositors, (he) had fake medals. But the regulation does not distinguish whether a soldier has fake medals or not.”

“It does not distinguish whether a President is good or bad, handsome or ugly. If you’re a President, you’re entitled to be buried there,” Panelo added.

More pain for victims

Susan Quimpo, whose brother Ronald John disappeared in October 1977 after surviving torture, asked the President to listen to the appeal of martial law victims and their families, pointing out that the dictator’s burial at Libingan would only “cause even more pain for us.”

“How many times do the victims and their families have to recount the tales of torture and death. Why do the victims and their families always have to carry the burden of proof?” she said.

“If you really want peace, unity and healing for the land, we must first have truth and justice, and not bury Marcos at Libingan.”

She added: “Marcos even has it better because his body’s there. Many of us do not have our loved ones’ remains. We can’t even mourn our dead.”

Karapatan secretary general Tinay Palabay said the burial would give the Marcoses a “platform to whitewash the crimes they committed against the people.”

Unfit

For his martial law crimes, Marcos “is unfit” to be buried in a resting place of heroes, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a resolution as she sought to bring the Senate together on a single stand on Mr. Duterte’s decision.

She noted the contradiction of Mr. Duterte’s stance against oligarchs and his accommodation for “the very man who created a crony oligarchy during martial law.”

Hontiveros pointed out that while former Presidents and soldiers may be buried at Libingan, military regulations disallowed the interment of “those who were convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude.”

She said Marcos had a proven record of human rights abuses during his reign, including various methods of torture of those perceived to be against the state.

Torture, jail

Sen. Paulo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV said it was clear that the Marcos regime not only plundered the country but also unjustly jailed over 70,000 people and tortured more than 30,000.

“I hope for the sake of our country and our youth that the plan will not push through. Because if that would still be done, the wrong might become right,” Aquino told reporters in an interview.

“[W]e’re really very hopeful that in the next couple of weeks … President Duterte would listen to public sentiments, even of his allies,” he said.

Lagman and groups making up the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani are still hopeful that Mr. Duterte would still change his mind, just like what he did in the past.

Bonifacio Ilagan, lead convener of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang, said Mr. Duterte may yet change his mind, noting how he flip-flopped on the mode of changing the Constitution and on not giving Vice President Leni Robredo a Cabinet post.

“His predisposition to give Marcos a hero’s burial cannot be cast in stone yet. We have all the opportunities to have him change his mind,” Ilagan said.

Baguilat called on the public to “put pressure” on their respective congressmen to speak up against the burial, to show the President that it’s not only the opposition who are against his plan but also his allies.

He also appealed to martial law victims serving in the administration, such as Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, Agrarian Reform Secretary Paeng Mariano and Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. to talk the President out of his decision.