FM burial protesters told: Go ahead, express yourselves

MANILA, Philippines – President Duterte is encouraging people opposed to his decision to allow the interment of former president Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani to hold protest rallies and express their opposition.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said only a “minimum number” of policemen would be sent to face protesters and manage traffic flow during the burial.

Retired military generals are joining the funeral march for Marcos to the heroes’ cemetery on Sept. 18.

A retired four-star general, who requested not to be named for lack of authority to speak for their group, said they would coordinate their participation in the funeral march with the Marcos family and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office    tasked to prepare the military burial of Marcos.

“We want to pay our last tribute to our former president and commander-in-chief,” he said.

He said once final arrangements are made they will make a public announcement on their participation in what he called a “historic event.”

The burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani will finally put an end to the decades-long controversy that continues to divide the country, he added.

Last Sunday, Duterte said he has given the go-signal to start preparations for the interment of the dictator in the Libingan.

Human rights advocates believe Marcos does not deserve to be buried in the heroes’ cemetery because of the abuses committed during his term.

Officials, however, said Marcos is qualified to be interred in the cemetery as a former soldier and former president.

Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters yesterday in Malacañang that Armed Forces regulation is very clear: soldiers as well as presidents can be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“There is no question that Marcos was a soldier, but there is a question whether he has received fake medals,” he said.

“But you know, the regulation does not say that (you are not qualified) if you have fake medals, the regulation is that you (should be) a soldier.”

Panelo said it’s about time to put closure to the issue, which remains hotly debated 27 years after Marcos’ death.

“During the campaign, the President promised to allow the remains of President Marcos to be buried,” he said.

“And we Filipinos as voters heard that and accepted that and gave him the mandate.

“Now of course, there will be people who will be against it, because we are in democratic country. That’s why we have right to peaceful assembly, protest and to express their grievance.”

Marcos’ remains are in a refrigerated crypt in his hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte where the body has stayed since being flown there from Hawaii during the Ramos administration. The dictator died in exile in 1989.

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo supports the decision of Duterte to allow the burial of Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“I think rather than answer you issue by issue, let me just say that as a strategic direction, I believe that we should support the administration’s initiative,” she told reporters in a chance interview at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center yesterday.

‘Put closure on burial’

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda wants closure to the dilemma that has divided the nation for the past 30 years. He asked people to respect the law and President Duterte’s decision for the remains of Marcos to be buried in the heroes’ cemetery.

“For 30 years now the nation has agonized about this but those who opposed Marcos had ruled our country with six years of Cory, six years of Ramos, six years of P-Noy or even debatably nine years of PGMA,” he said in an e-mail.

“Some or even many say burying Marcos in LNMB will not heal our division or allow our nation to move on. But, I dare say that not burying Marcos as allowed by the law and as wished by his family has deeply divided the nation for the past thirty years.”

Salceda said burying Marcos in Libingan ng mga Bayani will not make him a hero, and that

history and historians will easily block or overcome such revisionism.

Salceda said only history will determine the correctness of judgment that the nation will be better off burying Marcos in Libingan to close a dark chapter and a past that has shackled the Filipinos’ worldview and future as a people.

‘An insult’

On the other hand, Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Brawner Baguilat Jr. said burying Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is an insult to the   heroes buried there.

“It would dishonor the memory of the national artists, former presidents, war heroes and Filipinos who performed exemplary deeds in the name of the country, ” he said

“I am taking it (also) as a personal insult. There is a reason why it is called Libingan ng mga Bayani. It is for us to remember the people who sacrificed for their country, people like my brother. He died young but he died a hero. To put the former dictator in the same place where he is resting is an insult to his memory and an insult to the memory of the other families whose loved ones made similar sacrifices in the service of their country.

“What will it say about us as a country and as a people if we will just simply ‘move on’ as other people want and bury him as a hero? Does it mean now that we will honor those who have already been proven to have done such wrong to our people and our country?

“This is not about moving on. This is about doing what is right and honoring the real heroes,” Baguilat concluded.

Former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Marcos is not a hero and should not be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

However, he does not intend to talk to Duterte about it.

“No. I don’t intend to talk to [Duterte], but I’m opposed to it because Marcos does not deserve to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” he said.

Pimentel and Duterte are both members of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan,  of which Pimentel is the emeritus chairman and Duterte the chairman.

Pimentel said that he has no access to Duterte. The last time he talked to Duterte was during the campaign and during an affair at  Malacañang when he won the presidential race, he added. – With Perseus Echeminada, Celso Amo, Delon Porcalla, Artemio Dumlao, Robertzon Ramirez