SC denies petition vs Marcos burial at Libingan

The Supreme Court en banc on Tuesday denied a petition questioning President Duterte and the high court’s decision on the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In a statement, the high court denied “outright” the petition filed by lawyer Conrado L. Manicad.

The Marcos family decided to bury the late dictator at Libingan last Nov. 18 or just 10 days after the SC voted 9 to 5 with one abstention to uphold the President’s order to finally end Marcos’ 27-year wait for a burial.

The President claimed that as a former president and soldier, Marcos had met all the requirements to be eligible to lie among war heroes at Libingan.

The Marcos family clandestinely proceeded with the burial ceremonies even if the SC had yet to act on the motions for reconsideration filed by several petitioners who had 15 days to make their appeal.

The petitioners were led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo who represented families of the human rights victims who were killed, abducted and tortured during martial law.

The burial took less than four hours from the transport of Marcos’ remains by helicopter from Ilocos Norte to Libingan as the family obviously wanted to avoid protesters from massing at the cemetery gates.

The high court’s decision was met with massive protests as it was deemed a condonation of the abuses committed by Marcos and a spite against the people who joined the Edsa People Power Revolution which forced his ouster in 1986.

The court also virtually condoned the Marcos family’s rush to get on with the burial when it noted there was no specific order barring such.