Martial law victims to file TRO petition vs Marcos hero burial

Martial law victims are set to file a petition in the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order on the hero’s burial of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The Samahan ng Mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) on Saturday said it would be filing next week a petition for certiorari, which aims to secure the issuance of a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction from the high court.

“If such misdeed happens, it will be a grave injustice to the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrests and detention, torture and harassment perpetrated by the Marcos fascist regime,” Trinidad Herrera, Selda spokesperson, said in a statement.

“Marcos is no hero. He was a mass murderer, torturer and a plunderer,” Herrera said.

“To confer national honors to Marcos is a defilement of the people’s historic struggle against the tyranny of martial law.”

Selda is set to embark on a protest motorcade next week as part of the activities of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (Carmma). The group will include the Libingan ng mga Bayani in the motorcade.

“We reiterate our call to President Duterte to reconsider his decision to give such honors to a dictator, and instead hasten the process of indemnification of the victims and relatives. Even in the sunset years of our lives, we will continue to fight for justice for all victims of martial law and state fascism,” Herrera said.

Malacañang earlier said it would respect the decision of the Supreme Court should it favor a petition to stop the burial of former President Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

But presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo said the Duterte administration was confident that the petition would be dismissed as the law was clear that Marcos was qualified to be buried at the heroes’ cemetery.

“The regulation issued by the Armed Forces of the Philippines is very clear: Those who are entitled to be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani are, among others, soldiers and presidents, so on the basis of that the late President Marcos is entitled to be buried there,” Panelo said.

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