DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A group that opposed the burial of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) lauded Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s position that it would “respect the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Mags Maglana, spokesperson of Konsensya Dabaw, said that respecting the SC decision “would strengthen rule of law in our country.”
“We are among those who are urging the SC to do right by the many victims of Martial Law, and the coming generations of Filipinos, by denying a ploy to whitewash Marcos’s bloody record in favor of the full return to power of the Marcoses and the forces that supported the dictatorship,” Maglana said.
Before heading to Brunei on Sunday, Oct. 16, Duterte said that it is SC who interprets the law and decide which of the public interest is served among the contending parties.
Marcos’ medals and heroism, Duterte said, is not issue. “And that is to be resolved maybe in the generations to come.”
Duterte, however, pointed out that the SC “will not decide on emotions.”
“It could not be decided on the group now, which were, actively, physically, and emotionally involved in the issues that went past,” the President said.
For Konsensya Dabaw, the issue need not to take generations to resolve.
“Similar to the steps that Pres. Duterte himself took to increase public awareness of the Bud Dajo massacre, the Duterte administration can build on previous measures towards the full healing of Philippine society, which has not yet fully dealt with its violent past,” the group said.
Not on emotions
Maglana also cautioned “against the oversimplification of the hero’s burial for Marcos into one of deciding on the basis of law versus ‘emotion’, and because the issue is alienating almost the entire Ilocano people.’”
According to Maglana, there are at least 70,000 arrested, 34,000 tortured, 3,240 summarily executed, and 1,000 disappeared during the Martial Law.
“The massive amount of money that the Marcoses amassed illegally (estimated between US$5 to 10B); the foreign debt that the Marcos administration racked up and which all Filipinos will still be paying until 2025; and the economic and social consequences that cost us even after the Marcoses were ousted in 1986—these should not be dismissed as matters of emotion,” Maglana said.
“They are about justice,” she added. “We believe that the Filipino sense of solidarity and justice requires that Marcos be buried finally in Batac beside his mother, as he himself wished, and not at the LNMB.”
Since its formation last August, Maglana’s group already aired their disapproval of honoring Marcos as a hero by burying him at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Konsensya Dabaw held several protest actions urging Duterte to bury Marcos in Ilocos. The SC would decide on Tuesday, Oct. 18 whether or not Marcos will be buried at Heroes’ Cemetery. (davaotoday.com)
