Sen. Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
SENATOR Leila de Lima filed a legal challenge against plans to transfer the remains of dictator Ferdinand Marcos to Libingan ng mga Bayani Tuesday, becoming the seventh petitioner against the move on the eve of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on the divisive issue.
De Lima, in her 38-page petition, said that “no President has the power to rewrite history.”
She argued transferring Marcos’ remains at the heroes’ cemetery would go against the very spirit of the 1987 Constitution, which was crafted precisely to prevent a repeat of the abuses committed under his two-decade regime.
While his departure to Hawaii foreclosed any possibility of conviction over criminal acts, De Lima said that “the Filipino’s rejection of his leadership and the abuses committed by him and under his regime cannot be made clearer under the circumstances.”
“It is thus incumbent upon all of us—senators, other government officials, and citizens of the Republic—to defend the Constitution against the greatest attack levied, not just against any particular provision thereof, but against its very existence and integrity,” De Lima’s petition read.
De Lima said Armed Forces of the Philippines Regulations G 161-373 should be stricken down because it was issued with grave abuse of discretion.
The AFP rules provided “incomplete, whimsical and capricious standards” for qualifications and disqualifications for interment at the heroes’ cemetery, she argued.
She noted that the rules failed to abide by Republic Act No. 289’s provision that heroes worthy of “inspiration and emulation” by succeeding generations should be buried at the cemetery.
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