Marcos burial at Libingan insults Edsa spirit, says bishop

LEGAZPI PROTEST Militants light candles at the Battle of Legazpi Shrine in Legazpi City to show their dismay over the
Supreme Court’s decision allowing the dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried at Libingan ngmga Bayani. —GEORGEGIO BRONDIAL

“Marcos is no hero. He should not be presented as one.”

Bishops, victims of atrocities during the Ferdinand Marcos regime and opposition politicians issued strongly worded statements denouncing Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the dictator’s burial at  Libingan ng mga Bayani.

On campuses in state universities in Los Baños and in Iloilo province, students lit candles and planned more protest rallies.

“We are very sad. The burial is an insult to the Edsa spirit. It mocks our fight to restore democracy,” Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said in a statement.

“Marcos is no hero! He should not be presented as one. During martial law he had made many people suffer by arbitrary torture and death. He has deprived many poor people of their basic needs while his family and cronies were enriched. We do not forget this! We will not allow that this be forgotten by the future generations in order that the same strong-hand oppression may not happen again,” he said.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said “the memory of the cruelty of Marcos and family can never be obliterated from the minds and hearts of thousands of martial law victims.”

Former President Benigno Aquino III declined to comment. Said his spokesperson, Abigail Valte: “Yes, his family was also a victim of martial law, but he has always said that there are a thousand other stories that should not be drowned out. I’d say this is his way of giving way to these narratives.”

Sen. Leila de Lima, one of seven petitioners against the burial, said she would file a motion for reconsideration. She said the court should have at least taken “judicial notice of the political, constitutional and legal history of our nation,” including the circumstances of Marcos’ ouster.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, also a petitioner, said the ruling represented a “tectonic shift” after several decisions that stated Marcos was a plunderer and a human rights violator. “Now they are going to turn around and call him a hero?” he said.

On Tuesday, students began protests at the University of the Philippines Visayas in Miag-ao. The campus at West Visayas State University in Iloilo City followed on Wednesday.

The students lit candles and displayed placards decrying the decision of the high court.

Militant organizations led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan also led candle-lighting protests at Plazoletagay in Iloilo City and at the Roxas City Rotonda in Capiz.

“It’s a slap on our face. We are shocked and saddened,” said Fortunato Pelaez, vice president of Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto.

Fr. Brian Gore, 72, an Australian Columban priest jailed by Marcos, said 75,000 claims by human rights victims had been made against the dictatorship. “Even if only half of those cases were proven to be valid, that still is a huge indictment. Think of the number of people who were murdered, raped, tortured, falsely imprisoned, it’s a real kick in the teeth to those people,” he said.

Christian Olasimain of Zamboangueños Against the Hero’s Burial of Marcos said the group was planning an indignation rally in the coming days.

In Davao City, Mags Maglana, spokesperson of Konsensya Dabaw, said: “We should tell President Duterte that we cannot truly discuss historical injustices without recognizing and denouncing the abuses during the time of Marcos.” —WITH REPORTS FROM TINA G. SANTOS, TARRA QUISMUNDO, GIL CABACUNGAN, NIKKO DIZON, JULIE ALIPALA, KARLOS MANLUPIG, NESTOR P. BURGOS JR., CARLA P. GOMEZ, JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN, REY ANTHONY OSTRIA, MA. APRIL MIER AND MAR S. ARGUELLES