“For how can such honesty and integrity be promoted and defended when a dishonest and disgraced public official, such as Ferdinand E. Marcos, after his removal from power, can snatch respect and thereby re-write not only history but his culpability via the back door of declaring and celebrating him a hero?” the petition said.
Advertisement
Vicitms of the martial law imposed by former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 asked the Supreme Court on Monday to stop the government’s plan to bury him in the country’s heroes’ cemetery.
At its en banc session Tuesday, the court also directed respondents – the Marcos heirs, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, AFP Chief of Staff, General Ricardo Visaya, Rear Admiral Ernesto Enriquez in his capacity as the AFP’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Reservist and Retiree Affairs, the Grave Services Unit (Philippine Army) – to respond to the petition within a non-extendible period of 5 days. “It’s so hard to imagine that he will be buried in the Heroes’ Cemetery”, former Marcos prisoner Danny Tang told AFP. “We must never forget”, said Che Lipa, who was at the protest with his wife, Lita.
In particular, President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte issued an executive order directing Lorenzana and Visaya to prepare and co-ordinate with the Marcos family for the burial tentatively scheduled on Sept.18.
Republic Act No 10368 recognises “the heroism and sacrifices of all Filipinos who were victims of summary execution, torture, enforced or involuntary disappearance and other gross human-rights violations” committed under Marcos and seeks to restore their “honour and dignity”.
It also would abandon a 1993 agreement between the Marcos family and then President Fidel Ramos’ government for Marcos to be buried in his hometown in northern Ilocos Norte province, the petitioners said.
Hundreds of Filipinos rallied in stormy weather to protest against President Rodrigo Duterte for approving the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a heroes’ cemetery. He also placed the country under martial law.
They want a TRO issued before Marcos’ burial scheduled for September 18. Those who have greatly committed crimes and moral turpitude to the Filipino people can not be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The group said in their petition that Marcos “is not entitled to any hero’s burial”, adding that he “overly abused” the presidency during his rule and faked his military record. “In fact, the reverse is true and Marcos is not qualified under any law or guideline”, they said.
“That’s why the nation is once again torn by debates over a contentious issue that could have been buried a long time ago”, said Joey Salgado, Binay’s spokesperson.
Almost 30,000 Filipinos have signed a petition urging Duterte to reconsider allowing Marcos’s burial in the cemetery, which the document said would be “an affront to the thousands of lives tortured and murdered during his reign”.
Aquino had tasked Binay to study and make recommendation on the issue of Marcos burial at the Libingan ng Bayani after the House of Representatives approved a resolution calling for a military burial for the late president.
Advertisement
Mr Marcos’ family have kept his preserved body on display after he died in exile in 1989, following a popular revolt three years earlier.
