Solon declares day of mourning over Marcos hero’s burial

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr. Photo from congress.gov.ph

Lawmakers from the “legitimate” minority bloc in the House of Representatives deplored the decision of the Supreme Court to allow the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In a statement on Tuesday, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the petitioners against the move to give Marcos a hero’s burial, said he was puzzled why the Supreme Court would grant such privilege to a “plunderer.”

The Supreme Court, in a vote of 9-5, voted to junk the petitions assailing the move of the Duterte administration to allow Marcos to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as a former President and soldier.

READ: SC OKs Marcos burial at Libingan

“While I respect the decision of the Supreme Court, I am puzzled to no end why the majority of the High Court would allow the burial of a judicially and historically confirmed despot, plunderer and transgressor of human rights in the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” Lagman said.

Lagman’s brother Hermon, a human rights lawyer, was a victim of enforced disappearance during the martial law regime.

READ: Lagman on Marcos burial: Libingan for heroes, not for plunderers

Lagman said the petitioners would file a motion for reconsideration seeking to reverse the Supreme Court decision.

“A high sense of patriotism and the common standards of reason and logic bar the interment of Marcos in the Cemetery of Heroes,” Lagman said.

“Motions for reconsideration are in order for a reversal of the majority decision,” he added.

Lagman urged the Supreme Court to extend the status quo ante order to prevent the case from being rendered moot and academic upon Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

For his part, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat declared a day of mourning.

“I’m taking a day off from Congress as a day of mourning.  Then after that, we continue the advocacy against human rights abuses, corruption and authoritarian rule that defined Marcos’ Martial Law,” Baguilat said.

Baguilat said despite Marcos’ hero’s burial, there is a pressing need to educate the youth about the atrocities during martial law regime.

“Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, we must continue to explain to Filipinos, especially the young, why we shouldn’t allow the loss of freedoms to happen again,” Baguilat said.

Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said giving Marcos a hero’s burial does not bury with it the atrocities of Marcos’ regime, marred by human rights violations, suppression of press freedom and enforced disappearances of activists and critics.

“(I am) saddened by the Supreme Court decision, but the fight continues. Body may be buried but not the truth. We will not allow Marcoses to revise history,” Villarin said.

“We will not forget the sacrifices of those who resisted and fought for the freedoms we have today,” he added. RAM/rga

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