Solons hit dictator’s burial, suspect Duterte knew of Marcos plans

Congressmen have  joined the chorus not only in lambasting the hero’s burial for former President Ferdinand Marcos but also casting doubt on the Palace’s statements that it is not aware of the move.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr., one of the Supreme Court petitioners, lamented that there would be little relief left against the late dictator.

“The victims of the Marcos regime which is the entire nation, unless history is revised, are now left with little relief,” Baguilat said.

On the other hand, he pointed out that the battle against Marcos’ bloody legacy would now shift to educating the youth on the “true values of democracy, and the challenges of defending it.”

“This is not the death knell of freedom-loving Filipinos. The front of this battle now shifts to the minds of the youth,” he said.

Baguilat said the burial was “evidently planned in dark secrecy, and such plans can only hide sinister motives.”

“Why, for example, did the Duterte administration not wait for the Supreme Court to re-evaluate its decision, knowing that a motion for reconsideration was under way?” he said.

He also raised the question of who paid for all the arrangements, from the airlifting of Marcos’ remains to the mobilization of 500 soldiers, despite the Malacanang’s claims that it had no inkling about the sneak burial.

Baguilat also questioned the timing of the move, when Duterte is out of the country attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Another copetitioner and Magnificent Seven member, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tomasito Villarin, said Duterte should be blamed for Marcos’ burial in the heroes’ cemetery.

Even his “panakaw (thief-like)” burial just proved that “Marcos is really a thief, nothing more,” Villarin said in a series of Twitter posts.

“PDuterte planned this burial all along w/ d Marcoses & he is to blame. Malacanang shld not wash hands on this,” he said. “PDuterte fulfilled his campaign promise of burial, now will he install Bongbong next? will he extol the Marcos legacy more?”

Militant congressmen belonging to the House supermajority also decried the sudden burial.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago, said the “secretive” manner of the burial “speaks volumes … [of] the lengths in which authorities are willing to go just to change the course of history.”

“Hanggang huling hantungan, galawang magnanakaw pa rin itong si Marcos. Sa salita nga ng mga millennial, galawang Hokage (Up to his final resting place, Marcos moves like a thief. Or in the words of the millennial, moves like a Hokage),” Elago said, referring to the ninja leaders in anime Naruto.

Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, meanwhile, described the “blitzkrieg” move as a “dastardly act characteristic of the Marcoses and a slap on the face of the victims of human rights violations.”

He said it was an “outright insult to the Supreme Court” for the dictator’s family not to wait for the decision to take finality, adding that more protests would be launched against the Marcoses.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of the litigants in the first Supreme Court petition, said: “30 years after martial law the Marcoses continue to disregard the rights of others.”

“But just as during martial law when Marcos closed legal venues, the people once more will take to the streets to protest against this latest travesty of justice,” Colmenares said. “The protests will have to be waged relentlessly until justice, accountability and the return of ill-gotten wealth to the people is achieved.”/rga