Protests mount vs Marcos burial in Libingan ng mga Bayani
Public opposition continues to build up as the Duterte administration prepares to bury the remains of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) on Sept. 18.
Various lawmakers, groups and even government agencies, such as the National Historical Commission have spoken out against giving a hero’s burial for Marcos, which they said equates to an exoneration of the Marcos family’s crimes against the people, and brings them closer back to power in Malacañang.
This week, Inquirer.net reported that Malacañang released a memo from Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, dated Aug. 7, ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines to draft the plans for the transport and interment ceremony of Marcos’ remains in the LNMB. The memo referred to a verbal order given by Duterte on July 11. During his electoral campaign, Duterte had said he will allow the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
In Congress, progressive lawmakers filed House resolution 197 opposing the move, calling it a “monumental historical distortion,” as giving a hero’s burial for Marcos sends “the absurd message that the Filipino people overthrew a ‘hero’ during People Power I and that the international community’s sympathy for that uprising is wrong.”
“The Marcos dictatorship violently suppressed political dissent, committed crimes against humanity, plundered the country’s resources, and perpetuated US imperialism’s stranglehold on the nation,” said the proposed House resolution, filed by seven Makabayan bloc lawmakers on Aug. 11.
Marcos died in exile on Sept. 28, 1989 in Hawaii, where his family was flown by the US government to escape the first People Power in 1986. In September 1993, President Ramos allowed the repatriation of the dictator’s remains, but refused to give him a hero’s burial.
Marcos’ remains has since been preserved and kept on display in a refrigerated glass coffin in the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac city, Ilocos Norte.
The proposed house resolution said the Marcos family signed an agreement with the Ramos administration, which allowed the repatriation of the ousted dictator, on the following conditions: it will be brought home without fanfare; it will be buried in Ilocos Norte, and with military honors only up to the rank of major.
The Makabayan proposed resolution cited the human rights violations from 1976 to 1983, that “formed the apex of a pyramid of terror:” 3,257 killed, 35,000 tortured, 70,000 incarcerated, 737 Filipinos “disappeared” from 1976 to 1983. During martial law, the word “salvaging” came to mean summary execution, as mutilated bodies were dumped in public areas. Up to 2,250 salvaged victims were documented, “dumped on roadsides for public display to create widespread fear.”
The proposed resolution also cited how Marcos plunged the country into a “cycle of ever-growing debt,” as foreign debt had ballooned, from $1 billion in 1966 when Marcos took power, to $28 billion in 1986 at the time he was ousted. Ibon Foundation said debts incurred under Marcos alone will be shouldered by Filipino taxpayers up to 2025. On the other hand, the late Solicitor General Frank Chavez estimated that Marcos had up to $13.4 billion stashed in various Swiss banks.
“Marcos and his family have never acknowledged these grave violations and have never apologized to the Filipino people up to the present,” the resolution said.
During this year’s elections, martial law victims formed the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses in Malacañang (Carmma) to thwart the vice presidential bid of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. The younger Marcos lost to administration bet Leni Robredo by a small margin of votes, and has recently petitioned for a recount.
This weekend, various groups are staging protests against the Marcos burial: at the National Council of Churches in the Philippines in Quezon City on Aug. 13, and in Luneta, Manila on Aug. 14.
‘Marcos’ bronze coffin insults martial law victims’
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) scoffed at the reported bronze casket being prepared for Marcos’ remains, in stark contrast to how hundreds of martial law victims, the desaparecidos, were “abducted, murdered and buried in unmarked graves.”
“The wealth illegally amassed by the Marcoses will again be used to ‘honor’ the late dictator, in the same way it is used to whitewash his sins. State honors and the Marcos family’s ostentatious display of wealth are doubly insulting to the victims of the dictatorship,” said the Bayan statement.
Solid bronze caskets cost up to $30,000, Bayan said.
The youth group Anakbayan called the impending burial a “travesty of justice and distortion of history,” as they said the Marcos dictatorship has yet to pay for the thousands of youth activists, “the cream of the crop” who were killed for fighting martial law.
“It does not matter if the Libingan ng mga Bayani was originally a cemetery for soldiers, one of Duterte’s justifications for burying Marcos there as a soldier. Giving Marcos a hero’s burial sends a wrong signal that crimes against humanity and plunder will be celebrated by the state,” said Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan chairperson, in a statement.
“We are reminding President Duterte not to use his office simply to give favors to those who supported his electoral campaign. The Marcos burial, in particular, should not be made just to repay political debts to his close friend Bongbong Marcos,” Crisostomo said.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers said a hero’s burial for Marcos equals “rewriting history” and insults martial law victims and their families.
“It took a people’s movement to topple the late fascist-dictator Ferdinand Marcos. To honor his memory by burying him in the Libingan ng mga Bayani sends a distorted message to our children that dictators and plunderers can be called heroes and accorded honors,” said ACT national chairperson Benjie Valbuena.
Revising history | Marcos burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani
When pressed about why he is allowing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani despite the numerous protests, President Duterte justified his decision by saying: “He was a president and a soldier. Simple.”
Well and good if the matter is as simple as that. If Marcos were any other president or any other soldier, there could be no argument about allowing his or her burial at Libingan ng Bayani. After all, that cemetery has been reserved for them, and any soldier or veteran, whether a private or a general, has the privilege of being buried there, if the soldier or his or her family so wishes. I suppose the same is true for dead presidents.
But the case of the late president Marcos is far more complicated than what President Duterte makes it appear to be. By declaring martial law and usurping all power to himself, the late dictator Marcos plunged the nation in one of the, if not the darkest period in the country’s history.
Thousands of people, in the prime of their lives, were victimized: killed, forcibly disappeared, tortured, imprisoned, and forcibly displaced. Gross violations of human rights under the Marcos dictatorship are not myths or urban legends; these have been proven multiple times by the testimonies of the living victims and the relatives of the dead and the disappeared. Even the Federal District Court of Hawaii found, beyond reasonable doubt, that indeed the late dictator Marcos and his minions violated the rights of thousands of Filipinos. The Federal court awarded $1.9 billion in damages to the victims and their relatives.
Burying Marcos with full honors not only would rub salt to the wounds of the victims and their relatives, it would disregard the fact that thousands were victimized and worse, it practically would justify these violations.
Added to this, the callous act of burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani would deny the fact that the Marcos dictatorship plunged the country into deep political, economic, and social crisis. The country experienced an oil crisis, rice crisis, sugar crisis, dollar crisis, among others.
The late dictator’s son boasts of the infrastructure projects under Marcos, without revealing that these buried the country into debt, which the nation has been paying up to now. He boasts of the Marcos family’s version of unity, while ignoring the fact that the late dictator used the full machinery of the state to create an atmosphere of fear in the hope of eradicating all forms of opposition to its rule. The Marcos family boasts of eliminating the stranglehold of oligarchs on the economy, but centralized all wealth and established a monopoly of strategic, profitable businesses in the country.
The historical significance and political implications of the burial of the dictator Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani are not lost on the Marcos family. This is why they have been spending to preserve his remains for almost three decades already. They have the money to construct a mansion to bury his remains. They could even buy a whole memorial park to bury him there.
But they chose to wait. And burying the remains of the late dictator Marcos with full military honors would just as well be the launching pad for the return of the Marcos family to Malacañang through the son Bongbong.
While justifying his decision to allow the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani with what appears to be simple logic and legalities, the historical significance and political implications of this decision are likewise not lost on the Duterte administration. For one, President Duterte has, several times, publicly acknowledged his friendship with the Marcos family. He boasted that his father served under Marcos. During his campaign, Duterte declared that if he wins and then fails to complete his term, he would be more than willing to leave the reins of government to Bongbong. President Duterte has also declared that he would appoint Bongbong to a Cabinet position once the prohibition on losing candidates expires.
Just last Tuesday, in a tirade against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, President Duterte asked her if she would rather that he declares martial law, because of his perception that Chief Justice Sereno was blocking his anti-drug campaign by issuing a letter advising judges named by the president in his list of government officials allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade not to surrender without a warrant. Was the mention of declaring martial law a mere rhetorical question?
Last week, August 3, in a speech, President Duterte declared that his administration intends to destroy oligarchs then singled out businessman Roberto Ongpin. Is he emulating the purported campaign against oligarchs by the late dictator Marcos?
What about Duterte’s controversial anti-drugs campaign that has claimed the lives of hundreds of poor Filipinos, totally disregarding the principles of due process and human rights? Does this not reflect the mindset and ways of the late dictator Marcos?
Let us just hope that this is just a case of overreaction, and that the similarities between what Marcos did and what Duterte has been doing and appears to be intending to do stops here. But still, the historical significance and political implications of the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, with full honors, should not be lost on the Filipino people. After all, it is the people who shape history.
Martial law survivors urge high court to stop hero’s burial for Marcos
Florentino, her husband Ernesto and their only daughter Gemma, then only eight years old, were dragged by soldiers from their home in Tatalon, Quezon City on June 18, 1977. Florentino and Gemma were brought to Camp Crame where they stayed in different detention cells for a month. Ernesto was jailed at Camp Bagong Diwa and was released after three months.
Their incarceration, however brief, left a scar on their lives.
After being released from detention, the family had to report weekly to the military. This only stopped when Marcos was toppled through a popular uprising in February 1986.
Tears formed in Florentino’s eyes when asked of her message to President Rodrigo Duterte.
“It’s so painful. It’s like erasing the sins of Marcos,” Florentino told Bulatlat in an interview.
Florentino who was among the thousands who filed the historic classic suit against the Marcoses said burying Marcos would distort historical facts, particularly the atrocities during the Marcos dictatorship.
“What about the thousands who were tortured, who were raped?” Florentino said, adding that there were enormous pieces of evidence proving human rights abuses during martial law.
“We’re still alive,” Florentino said. “We have not forgotten.”
Implications
Neri Colmenares, president of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and was also detained during martial law, said the executive’s plan would have legal implications on the cases filed against the Marcoses.
Colmenares said the Marcoses would brag that the late dictator is a hero and would use it to their advantage.
Legal grounds
In their petition for certiorari and prohibition, martial law survivors maintained that the existing laws prohibit the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Citing the Armed Forces of the Philippines regulations on allocation of cemetery plots at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, petitioners said Marcos is not qualified.
The petitioners said that the the Libingan ng mga Bayani was created by virtue of Republic Act 289 and Sec. 1 provides that the purpose of the construction of a national pantheon is “to perpetuate the memory of all the Presidents of the Philippines, national heroes and patriots for the inspiration and emulation of this generation and of generations still unborn.”
“The burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani simply mocks and taunts Section 1 of RA 289,” the petitioners said.
The petitioners noted that apart from the human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship, the fact remains undisputed that Marcos and his family, during his term, acquired billions worth of ill-gotten wealth.
“The crimes of Marcos against the Filipino people and even against humanity involved moral turpitude,” the petitioners said.
The petitioners maintained that the memorandum dated 07 August 2016 issued by Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana with the subject “Interment of the late Former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at LNMB” and the directive on the interment of Marcos issued by Rear Admiral Ernesto C. Enriquez by command of General Ricardo R. Visaya are “patently illegal and were made with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”
Other petitioners include National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, Makabayan president Satur Ocampo, Bayan chairperson Carol Araullo, film director Bonifacio Ilagan and members of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Aresto (SELDA).