THE headline back home in the Philippines eclipsed the U.S. Presidential Election last November 8. The Supreme Court of the Philippines just ruled that the remains of the deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos may be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The highest court’s 9-5 decision ended a decade-long debate: did Marcos deserve to be buried with heroes who fought and died for the Philippines? This ruling effectively junked seven consolidated petitions to block Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s move to allow the burial of the late dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, Duterte did not abuse his executive power in giving the go signal for Marcos to be buried in the Libingan, as advocated by the Marcos family.
The High Court explanation concurred with Duterte’s rationale, stating that Marcos is qualified to be buried in the Libingan because he was a former president, commander-in-chief, a soldier, Medal of Valor awardee, legislator, and Secretary of National Defense.
Not many kababayans are happy about the Supreme Court decision, even among those who voted for Duterte.
But Malacañang said the Duterte administration hopes the matter will finally be laid to rest so that the nation can move forward.
Among the many arguments against the Supreme Court decision was that of Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who was then head of the UP student government during the Marcos regime. His message articulated the disgust and opposition of Filipinos about this issue. To quote Sen. Pangilinan:
“This is a horrible day for democracy.
Thanks to the Supreme Court, the Philippines will be a laughing stock of the world. We kicked out a reviled dictator and now we are honoring him by burying him in our national heroes cemetery. No less than our Supreme Court wants our citizens, our children to honor a plunderer and tyrant. This is shameful and deplorable.
Now the Supreme Court wants Mr. Marcos, who it previously called a “dictator…who caused twenty years of political, economic and social havoc in the country”, buried alongside our heroes.
Rather than effect closure as the final arbiter of all disputes, the Supreme Court has reopened old wounds. If the Supreme Court thinks it has the final say on the matter, then they are terribly mistaken. Burying Marcos in the Libingan has created a huge divide that will haunt the nation for days and years to come.
The law creating the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Republic Act 289, reserved its sacred grounds for heroes to be emulated by “this generation and of generations still unborn”.
Marcos is not a hero. His burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani desecrates our democracy and the memory of those who fought for freedom and justice in our country.”
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
