The filing of the petition came a day after at least 1,000 martial law victims and anti-Marcos activists held a protest rally to stress that Marcos is not a hero and to denounce President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to bury Marcos in the heroes’ cemetery.
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The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Monday that the petition was filed by victims of human rights violations through the National Union of People’s Lawyers, and asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the burial order.
The demonstrators carried placards and banners reading “Marcos: Not a Hero!” and “No hero’s burial for a criminal!” as they gathered at Rizal Park in Manila despite the heavy rains.
(It was flown from a refrigerated crypt in Hawaii, where he died in exile in 1989, to the mausoleum in the northern Philippine town of Batac.) But Ramos refused to allow a burial in the Heroes’ Cemetery.
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines, meanwhile, said it opposes Marcos’ burial because his military record is “fraught with myth, factual inconsistencies and lies”.
In a 30-page petition for certiorari and prohibition, they said the government committed grave abuse of discretion for issuing an illegal order, citing existing laws that “prohibit” Mr. Marcos’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Martin Andanar, Duterte spokesman, said on Sunday that while the leader allowed protests against the burial plan, he “remains firm” it will be carried out.
“The President has repeatedly said that he would allow any form of protest, like organizing mass actions against the FM burial at the LNMB”. He died in September 28, 1989 while in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his preserved remains have been kept in the family’s museum and mausoleum in the northern province of Ilocos since his family’s return.
They further stressed that even if Presidents or commanders-in-chief of the AFP as well as active and retired military personnel can be buried at the Libingan under AFP regulations, it also clarified that “those who have been dishonorably discharged from service, or personnel convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, do not qualify for interment at the cemetery”.
The planned burial that serves as a “personification of everything that is undemocratic” will also contradict Republic Act No. 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.
“The interment of the remains of Marcos at the LNMB with the honors that supposedly befit only Filipino Heroes with overall unblemished integrity and dignity is contrary to the Constitution, ” their petition stated.
“We said that because the burial will have to be done. there, will be no burial in the Heroes’ Cemetery”, Alunan said.
“Marcos, a World War II veteran, was not just an ordinary soldier but a decorated officer”.
“It took a people’s movement to topple the late fascist-dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
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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.
