Marcos to remain buried at Libingan, SC rules with finality

Amid protests, former President Ferdinand Marcos is finally laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as family members gather during the private burial rites on Friday. —PHOTO FROM FERDINAND E. MARCOS PRESIDENTIAL CENTER

Published: 3:49 p.m., Aug. 8, 2017 | Updated: 11:27 p.m., Aug. 8, 2017

The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed with finality its 2016 decision allowing the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).

During Tuesday’s en banc (full court) session, the high court, voting 10-5 dismissed the motions for reconsideration filed by former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.

“Wherefore, the motions for reconsideration as well as the motion/petition to exhume Marcos’ remains at the LNMB are Denied with Finality. The petition for indirect contempt in G.R. No. 228186 and G.R. No. 228245 are Dismissed for lack of merit,” the high court said.

The 10 justices who voted for the decision were Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Teresita de Castro, Jose Mendoza, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Samuel Martires, Noel Tijam and Andres Reyes Jr.

The five opposing justices were Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justices Marvic Leonen, Francis Jardaleza, and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.

Malacañang hoped the high court’s decision would also put to rest the continual debate on Marcos’ burial at the cemetery.

“We hope the matter on the FM Libingan ng Mga Bayani will finally be laid to rest, and that the country will move forward as one united nation working for a comfortable life for all, law and order, and lasting peace,” he said.

READ: SC OKs Marcos burial at Libingan

In its Nov. 8 decision, the SC ruled that President Rodrigo Duterte, in allowing the burial, did not violate the law but merely exercised his mandate under the Constitution.

It also ruled that Marcos possessed the qualifications to be interred at the LNMB being a “former president and commander-in-chief, a legislator, secretary of national defense, a military personnel, a veteran, and a Medal of Valor awardee.”

Ocampo, through the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), maintained in his motion that Duterte’s action violated the 1987 Constitution which requires the State to take effective measures against graft and corruption.

Aside from asking for the reversal, Ocampo urged the SC to cite the Marcos family for contempt for the “sneaky” burial of late dictator at the heroes’ cemetery on Nov. 18, just 10 days after the SC ruling.

Lagman, in his 42-page motion, said that the Marcos burial at the LNMB was gross distortion, a malevolent revision and a wanton derogation of Philippine history.” —With a report from Daphne Yann Galvez, INQUIRER.net trainee /IDL/atm