Anti-Marcos protest (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ LYN RILLON)
BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental — An anti-Marcos group here protested the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, saying President Duterte and the Supreme Court effectively reversed the gains of the Edsa People Power Revolt against corruption and tyranny by allowing the burial to happen.
At least 300 members of the Mothers and Relatives Against Tyranny and Repression Negros — a group representing Martial Law victims — held a rally on Monday afternoon in front of the Fountain of Justice on Araneta Street here to protest the burial of the dictator.
The male protesters were dressed as devils dragging a black coffin bearing the pictures of Marcos and President Rodrigo Duterte as they marched to Araneta Street.
They then torched the coffin to show the anger of the victims of Martial Law, who had yet to attain justice.
They chanted “sunogon, sunogon (burn burn)” with clenched fists raised as the coffin went up in flames.
“The coffin represents that of Marcos, who, despite the plunder of the nation and countless human rights abuses during his reign, was allowed to be buried at the LNMB,” said journalist Edgar Cadagat, president of the Claims Assistance Processing Office/Mothers and Relatives Against Tyranny.
Cadagat, who was jailed during Martial Law, said Marcos ruled the country with an iron fist resulting in the arrest, torture, deaths and disappearance of political activists and ordinary citizens who opposed his administration.
The Marcos human rights record was unprecedented in history as more than 75,000 filed their claims under Republic Act 10368, the law which has recognized human rights violations victims under the Marcos regime, he added.
By allowing the burial of Marcos at the LNMB, Duterte and the Supreme Court have reversed the EDSA People Power revolt, he added.
“President Rodrigo Duterte says he is against corruption, yet he has supported the LNMB burial of a man accused of being a tyrant and plunderer,” Cadagat said. SFM/rga