I WANT to add my voice to the millions of decent Filipinos who strongly oppose the burial of the Marcos corpse at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).
The Libingan ng mga Bayani is clearly reserved, as the name implies, for heroes or Filipinos who have served the Motherland with utmost selfless patriotic dedication. The late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and the late senator Jose “Pepe” W. Diokno deserved to be buried at the LNMB. But their families, despite the absence of any opposition or controversy, chose to bury these national heroes in some other cemeteries.
Was Ferdinand Marcos a hero or a scoundrel? History reminds us that in September 1972 Marcos proclaimed martial law not to reform society as he claimed, but to perpetuate himself in power. When martial law was imposed, Marcos virtually became a dictator. He padlocked Congress, castrated the Supreme Court, shut down all media outlets, such as the press, radio and television. He seized private properties and handed them to his cronies among them, Juan Ponce Enrile, Eduardo Cojuangco and his brother-in-law, Kokoy Romualdez.
Marcos arrested thousands of his critics and opponents, members of the moderate political opposition, student leaders, social activists, union organizers, peasants and religious leaders. Senator Ninoy Aquino was detained for seven years while Senator Pepe Diokno was detained for more than two years. According to Amnesty International, 3,240 were killed, 70,000 imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured by the Marcos dictatorship.
The records of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) show that the dictator plundered the nation’s economy and stole the mind- boggling amount of not less than US$10 billion of which only US$4 billion have been recovered by the PCGG from the Marcos family.
According to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Marcos took advantage of whatever army connections he had for fraudulent money-making and self-aggrandizement purposes.
Marcos’ records as a soldier in World War II show that he was not a hero but a heel. Dr. Ricardo Jose, dean of the University of the Philippines Third World Studies, recently disclosed that according to US Army records, the so-called Maharlika unit, which Marcos claimed he organized in northern Luzon to fight Japanese troops, did not exist; that his Distinguished Silver medal and Purple Heart medal were fraudulently secured, that his so-called war exploits were fabricated, and that sometime in 1944 he was even imprisoned by the US Army for misuse of funds.
A brutal dictator, a certified plunderer, and a fake war hero like Ferdinand Marcos, and a president who was overthrown by the sovereign will of the people does not deserve to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. It is an insult to the memory of thousands of Filipinos who fought and died against the Marcos dictatorship. It is a message to the whole world that here in our country crime pays.
The claim that the burial of Mr. Marcos in the LNMB will unite and heal the nation is an illusion. Instead of healing the nation’s wounds, the burial of an ousted dictator in a cemetery reserved for heroes will open old wounds and revive animosities among Filipinos. The specter of Marcos’ ghost will continue to haunt the nation for years to come.--Democrito C. Barcenas
Dirty sidewalks
Anyone who has promenaded on the sidewalk along Osmeña Blvd., particularly the stretch between Uytengsu Road and R. Landon Ext., must have almost stepped on dog poo that dot the ground, left there by pets of careless, selfish, vain and boastful owners.
The owner who doesn’t clean up after his or her pet should be made to eat the sh-t.--Louella Sanislaw