‘Shameless,’ says Lagman of Marcos 100th birthday bash at Libingan

HEROES ALL Libingan ng mga Bayani is the resting place of some 50,000 men and womenwho brought honor to the country. —INQUIRER PHOTO

An opposition lawmaker and a vocal critic of the Marcoses called the plan of the family to throw a birthday bash for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as “shameless.”

In a statement, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the invitation of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos to prominent personalities and political figures to attend the 100th birthday bash of the late dictator at the heroes’ cemetery  “defiles the memory of all the legitimate heroes buried” there.

READ: Militant lawmaker pukes on Marcos’ 100th birthday party invite 

Lagman added that the event to be attended by lawmakers on Monday “rubs salt on the still-bleeding wounds of the thousands of victims of the Marcoses’ brutalities, atrocities and unparalleled greed and plunder of the national coffers.”

“The Marcoses’ shamelessness is beyond words and their sense of entitlement knows no bounds,” Lagman said.

READ: ‘Crazy idea’: Minority solons reject prospect of immunity for Marcos wealth 

Lagman said to mark the dictator’s 100th birthday, the Marcos heir should surrender the entire Marcos wealth without conditions of immunity, instead of praising the dictator at the heroes’ cemetery.

“To mark the late dictator’s 100th birth anniversary, the Marcos heirs must unequivocally commit the immediate surrender of the totality of the Marcos ill-gotten hoard without conditions, instead of celebrating in the Libingan ng mga Bayani which he does not deserve and does not deserve him,” Lagman said.

“Clearly, there is no measure to the depths of depravity that the Marcoses are willing to sink to. In the face of this shamelessness and utter lack of remorse, Filipinos cannot afford not to fight back and be silent,” he added.

Despite being a vocal critic of the Marcoses and the administration, Lagman was invited to Marcos’ birthday gathering.

Lagman’s brother Hermon is among the thousands of victims of enforced disappearances during the brutal two-decade dictatorship of Marcos.

The dictator’s remains were transferred from Ilocos Norte to Taguig after President Rodrigo Duterte secured the Supreme Court’s go-signal to allow a hero’s burial of Marcos, whose heartless two-decade regime was marked by human rights violations.

READ: Duterte explains Marcos burial: He was a president and a soldier

Duterte recently declared as a holiday Marcos’ birthday in his home province Ilocos Norte. The President has said he is negotiating with the Marcos kin for the return of the family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth and gold bars for a possible exchange of immunity./ac

READ: Duterte declares Ferdinand Marcos’ birthday a holiday in Ilocos