LEGAZPI CITY – A casket, a funeral band, and a sign that said, “RIP Democracy,” lead students and members of a militant group in Albay on Friday in a protest against burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Relentless rain did not stop students from Bicol University (BU) and Bicol Christian College of Medicine (BCCM) and members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) from marching from Daraga Freedom Park (also called Ninoy Aquino Park) in Daraga to Peñaranda Park in Legazpi City at around 3 p.m.
Alfredo Mansos, martial law survivor, joined the protesters in their march.
He earlier said he was glad that today’s students were making a stand and likened them to the students who fought the dictatorship.
Mansos also said that Department of Education (DepEd) should discuss martial law deeper, especially now that some students had come to believe historical revisionists.
Bayan spokersperson Vince Casilihan said the nine Supreme Court justices and President Rodrigo Roa Duterte should be held responsible for the late strongman’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
“We demand the reversal of the burial and for Duterte to once and for all abandon his alliance with the Marcoses,” Casilihan told Inquirer.
In Aquinas University of Legazpi (AUL), students, faculty members, and school administrators joined a candle-lighting ceremony in the campus for “the real heroes of martial law.”
According to Angelica Paula Peña, president of the supreme student council of AUL, said the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs permitted the students to wear black on Black Friday in protest of the Marcos burial.
In Catanduanes, Bayan-Catanduanes and students of Catanduanes State University (CSU) did not let the rain stop their protest.
In Naga City, some 200 students of the Ateneo de Naga University (AdNU), attended the “Flashback Friday: Revisiting Marcos’ Dictatorship,” an open-house advocacy concert.
Event organizer Mar Xavier Ampongan said the school did not cancel classes, but they were happy with the turnout. Spoken word artists, bands, and solo musicians performed at the university’s Four Pillars.
In Sorsogon, members of Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyonat Aresto (Selda), Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (Carmma), and representatives from various sectors, marched around SorsogonCity and held a program at the Capitol Park. /atm