Akbayan representative Tom Villarin. PHOTO FROM VILLARIN’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Lawmakers who are critical of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos said there is no reason to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late former president.
The vocal critics made the statement as some of their colleagues were invited to attend Monday’s 100th birthday bash of the dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, where Marcos was allowed to be buried by President Rodrigo Duterte after getting the go-signal of the Supreme Court.
Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said there is no reason to celebrate the centennial birthday of the dictator, whose brutal two-decade regime was marred with human rights violations.
READ: Martial law survivors to gatecrash 100th birthday anniversary of Marcos
Villarin said the celebration of the birthday is a “national tragedy,” citing the cooler ties between the Marcos family and President Duterte.
“Justice not compromise, uphold our laws and punish the wrongdoers! Marcos centennial birthday is no cause for celebration but a national tragedy heaped upon us. President Duterte’s glorification of the late dictator and his entombment in the Libingan ng mga Bayani reflects how the present administration has distorted our values and beliefs as Filipinos,” Villarin said.
READ: ‘The people have not forgotten’: Mass protests set on Marcos birthday
Villarin said Marcos may have been buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, but “they cannot bury the truth that the martial law era was one of the darkest times in our history that has rendered our institutions, economy, and the very fabric of our society severely damaged.”
READ: Amid downpour, protesters hold program at Marcos 100th birthday
“Some would mark today as the day the dictator was born. But we mark this day and every passing day as a day of remembrance for all those who have suffered and died because of him, until truth and justice prevail,” Villarin said.
In a separate statement, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao slammed Presidential Proclamation 310 which Duterte signed to declare Sept. 11 as a special non-working holiday in Ilocos Norte to mark the dictator’s centennial birthday.
READ: Duterte: What’s wrong with declaring Marcos birth anniversary a holiday?
“When the present generation should be learning how the Filipino people united and overthrew a dictator, defended democracy, we have a ‘loyalist’ president who is stomping on its memory and lessons, by honoring his birth anniversary,” Casilao said.
Gabriela Rep. Emmi De Jesus called out Duterte’s “fanboying” over Marcos, calling it “ironic” that the administration marked the dictator’s centennial birthday amid a spate of summary executions reminiscent of the Marcos dictatorship.
“It couldn’t be more ironic: the Duterte administration celebrates the 100th birthday of a dead dictator while Filipinos continue to reel from Marcosian legacies such as summary executions, Marcos-incurred debts, and market-oriented reforms,” De Jesus said.
“President Duterte is forgetting the lessons of ‘herstory’ by putting a dictator on the pedestal and resorting to Marcosian methods,” she added. je
READ: Militant lawmaker pukes on Marcos’ 100th birthday party invite