MALACAÑANG officials and Vice President Leni Robredo have mixed reactions on the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) allowing the burial of late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella was optimistic that the controversies hounding the hero's burial for the late dictator will be put to an end, following the high court's decision.
Abella also expressed hope that the public will find a way to move forward now that the SC already ruled on the issue.
"We acknowledge the decision of the Supreme Court to have the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as it is the final arbiter of all legal questions,” Abella said in a statement.
Voting 9-5, the high court dismissed the petitions filed by the human rights groups and Martial law victims, opposing hero's' burial for Marcos.
In a separate statement, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the ruling is in accordance with the country's existing law that allows a former president and a soldier, like Marcos, to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Panelo said the people should now focus on “more pressing” issues in the country rather than “linger on an emotional issue.”
“As I have expected the ruling validates our theory that the law and the regulations allow the burial of ex-Presidents and soldiers in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Hopefully, the decision will put to rest the opposition to the burial of Marcos,” Panelo said.
“It's about time the nation moves on and confront the more pressing concerns of the country rather than linger on an emotional issue that is unproductive as it is divisive,” he added.
Vice President Robredo, for her part, expressed dismay over the SC decision allowing the burial of Marcos at the heroes' cemetery.
"Our nation's healing begins with the acknowledgement of the truth and resolution of the past," the Vice President said.
Saying that the SC decision might pass the bar of legal technicality, Robredo, who is also a lawyer, insisted that it can never be consistent with morality and the spirit of the Filipino people power revolution.
Robredo, who consistently opposed the burial of the Martial Law dictator in the heroes' sacred ground, said that the Marcos family's refusal to take responsibility for atrocities of the regime is an insult to the Filipino people.
"We are deeply saddened by the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. To bury Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani would keep the wounds of the past unhealed," she said.
Robredo who won against former Senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr., Marcos' son, in the last May 2016 elections was one of those who publicly opposed the move to allow the former dictator to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. (Sunnex)