The Philippine Online Chronicles

More than 200 congressmen signed a resolution urging President Benigno S. Aquino III to allow the burial of the remains of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Authored by Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III, who served as agriculture minister of Marcos, House Resolution 1135 states, “[T]he Libingan ng mga Bayani is the most fitting place of burial for former soldier, statesman and former President and Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.”

Marcos died on September 1989. His remains are kept in a refrigerated crypt at his family’s ancestral home in Ilocos Norte.

It states further that “allowing the burial of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani will not only be an acknowledgement of the way he led a life as a Filipino patriot but will also be a magnanimous act of reconciliation which will strengthen the bonds of solidarity among the Filipino people.”

Among those who signed the resolution were Marcos widow Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Sorsogon Rep. Deogracias Ramos, Cagayan Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Pampanga Rep. Anna York Bondoc, Laguna Rep. Justin Chipeco, Valenzuela Rep. Rex Gatchalian, Lanao del Norte Rep. Fatima Dimaporo, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, DIWA party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay, Manila Rep. Zenaida Angping, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez, San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito, and Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco.

A counter resolution was filed recently by party-list lawmakers. Authors of the House Resolution 1297 said Marcos “does not deserve a hero’s burial" after he committed “gross crimes against humanity, plunged the nation deeper into debt and foreign control and plundered the nation’s resources" during his 20-year term.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño and Rep. Neri Colmenares, Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino, Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Gabriela Women’s party-list Reps. Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus signed the resolution.

“Filing this resolution is a matter of principle and to prevent a mockery and distortion of history. All efforts to erase the dark legacy of the Marcos dictatorship should be blocked in Congress and other fora," Casiño said.

Martial law victims insulted

In a report Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan chairwoman and political prisoner during martial law, opposed a hero’s burial for Marcos.

Bonifacio Ilagan, chairman of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) Movement and vice chairman of Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) said the resolution “makes a mockery out of the horrors that the Filipino people endured during the Martial Law era: numerous human rights violations including summary executions, enforced disappearances, torture, illegal arrests and detention, hamletting and forced evacuation, among others.”

Ilagan was also detained during martial law. His sister Rizalina has been forcibly disappeared and remains missing to this day.

Another activist during martial law, Trinidad Herrera-Repuno, branded the House resolution as “an arrogant and shameless distortion of history by the wife and allies of Marcos in Congress.”

“We do not consider as patriotic a fascist dictator. It is shameful that our legislators would push for such a measure. These dis-honorable men and women who signed the resolution should be reminded that the horrific experiences of the victims under martial law have yet to be rendered justice up to the present,” Herrera-Repuno said.

Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), said a hero’s burial for Marcos is “insensitive and will send a strong signal to dictators past, present and future.”

“It’s an insult to human rights victims who continue to seek justice. It gives a salute to massive plunder still unrecovered,” Olalia said.

Opposition from Church, Fil-Am community

In a report by Union of Catholic Asian News, Archbishop Anthonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro and a group of clergy in the central region of Visayas also opposed the plan.

“I’m a Filipino citizen and I’m against it. We know how massive were the human rights abuses during the Marcos regime,” Archbishop Ledesma said.

In another report, Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Philippine Independent Church said of the proposal, "This is ironic and this happens only in the Philippines. The proponents of the proposal either have no sense of history or have misplaced values on human rights."

For Catholic Bishop Carlito Cenzon, the resolution "makes a mockery of the Heroes' Cemetery because Marcos was a villain, not a hero.”

The Visayas Clergy Discernment Group of Catholic bishops and clergy said a hero’s burial for the late dictator is totally out of the question given his “atrocious human rights records.”

In a letter sent to Aquino May 10, a group of Filipino Americans, the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance, said that “Marcos is not a hero because he declared martial law based on many lies.” “As an absolute dictator, he engaged in all kinds of corruption”, and “U.S. military records prove that his claim of having been awarded 27 medal for heroism in WW II are blatantly false.”

Aquino, hands off?

The group also criticized Aquino’s silence on the proposal.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino does not want to get involved in the issue on the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he does not want being accused of bias.

“To render decision would be so easily done by him, but he wants to tell the public ‘I am doing this because I am holding my judgment and passing it on, asking the vice president to do it because I don't want to appear to be biased on this matter,’” Lacierda said.

“What kind of a leader is he — to allow this shameless man to be buried there? He is the son of the martyr that fought Marcos’ dictatorship!” Ted Laguatan, counsel for the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance, said.

Ilagan also deemed that Aquino should not pass the decision-making to Binay. He called on Aquino to make a "definitive and categorical stand" on the Marcos burial issue.

Party list lawmakers opposed to the proposal said Congress will become a “laughing stock" if it adopts the resolution giving a hero’s burial to Marcos.

“A congressional resolution urging President [Benigno] Aquino [III] to give Marcos a hero’s burial would send 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," they said in the resolution.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) conducted a survey on the issue but none of the 130 parties accredited by the Commission on Elections has so far responded to their letter sent last April.

Binay's office is expected to submit his recommendation to Aquino on the first week of June. It noted, however, that it will still wait for the official stand of the political parties until the end of the week.

Image taken from angust on Flickr. Some rights reserved.