Binay was directed by Aquino in April 2011 to study the issue of burying Marcos’ remains at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
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No. 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, that recognized the human rights violations during the Marcos regime.
“The Marcos dictatorship violently suppressed political dissent, committed crimes against humanity, plundered the country’s resources, and perpetuated USA imperialism’s stranglehold on the nation”, said the proposed House resolution, filed by seven Makabayan bloc lawmakers on August 11.
The planned hero’s burial also demonstrates the impunity with which the Marcos family has flouted its agreement with then President Fidel V. Ramos, who, in 1992, allowed the dictator’s corpse to be brought home on three conditions: that it would be given the honors due a junior officer, that it would be buried immediately, and that it would be buried in his home province of Ilocos Norte.
SC spokesman Theodore Te said in a news conference that martial law victims, including the camp of former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana or their lawyers are expected to participate in the oral arguments.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who joined the protest, says she has filed a Senate resolution opposing a hero’s burial for Marcos, who was overthrown in 1986 and died in USA exile three years later. “We’ve beaten (martial law) before”.
They included human rights activists, former legislators, students, victims of abuse under Marcos’ 20-year rule and Catholic nuns and clergy.
Ric Agnes, who leads the Marcos for Peace Movement (MPM) in Honolulu, said the group was happy to hear that the late President may “finally find peace” after staying in a refrigerated crypt at the Marcos ancestral house in Batac City since September 1993.
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.
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. His wife, Imelda, denies amassing wealth illegally.
SELDA calls for the most expedient efforts to indemnify the thousands of victims of Marcos’ martial law, which is an actual substantial step towards justice for the martial law victims and their families.
“Marcos went down in history as an unrepentant enemy of our heroes”, Hontiveros said.
Gamayo said the idea of weaving a burial blanket came from Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, the late President’s eldest daughter and one of her patrons.
Aside from Robredo, senators Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan and Grace Poe have confirmed their attendance for the rally to be held at the Lapu-Lapu Monument in Rizal Park from 8 a.m.to 12 nn. “It’s so hard to imagine that he will be buried in the Heroes’ Cemetery”, former prisoner Danny Tang said.
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Herrera reiterated the victims’ call to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider his decision “to give such honours to a dictator, and instead hasten the process of indemnification of the victims and relatives”.
