SOLICITOR General Jose Calida said Wednesday that burying the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City "will not make him a hero."
During the Solicitor General's presentation of his argument to the Supreme Court, he said that Marcos must be buried at the hero's cemetery for being a former president of the republic, a war veteran, and a medal of valor awardee.
"The interment of Marcos does not confer upon him a title of a hero worthy of emulation nor to require that those who should be buried there are heroes... Interring Marcos at the LNMB is an acknowledgement that he is a former president, a war veteran and a medal of valor awardee, nothing more," Calida said.
The Solicitor General further argued that under the constitution, Duterte's directive to inter Marcos falls under his power under the Constitution.
"The wisdom of interring Marcos at the Libingan is a political question, hence excluded from judicial review otherwise referred to as question...The instant controversy is beyond the ambit of judicial review. It involves intrusion upon executive power," Calida argued.
"The power to bury Marcos clearly belongs to the executive," he added.
Calida said that the reason for the conduct of the burial is to promote national healing, same with the unilateral ceasefire the President declared with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the conduct of peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway.
'Hollowed and sacred'
The Presidential Decree (PD) 105 signed by the late strongman himself declared national shrines as sacred and hollowed places thereof prohibiting its desecration.
During the interpellation of Associate Justice Benjamin Caguiao to the Solicitor General, the magistrate asked Calida if burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani will desecrate the national shrine.
Calida answered, "Libingan ng mga Bayani is not covered by PD105." He further argued that there are civilians being interred at the said cemetery.
The Solicitor General also claimed that the Libingan ng mga Bayani is the "most fitting" place for Marcos' burial.
Marcos signed PD105 on September 21, 1972. The decree declared "certain places in the country as national shrines because they were the sites of birth, exile, imprisonment, detention or death of great and eminent leaders of the nation."
The Libingan ng mga Bayani, however, was not included in the list of the national shrines under the said decree.
'Medal of valor cannot be stripped'
The medal of valor, which Marcos claimed to have received when he served as a soldier, cannot be stripped even if he had been ousted as president, a military official said.
During the debate, Associate Justice Teresita de Castro asked the acting chief of the Veterans Memorial and Historical Commission Restituto Aguilar if a medal of a war veteran can be nullified.
"Can we say that Marcos who had earned his medal of valor can be stripped of the medal if he is removed from office as a president? Is there any case before when one is stripped a medal?" De Castro asked.
Aguilar clarified that there is no regulation or a case where one who has earned a medal of valor was stripped of a medal.
"We have not encountered your honor. Not in history," Aguilar said.
Calida clarified that military records show Marcos was awarded a medal of valor through general order 167 issued in 1988.
Calida argued that once the medal is awarded, it cannot be nullified.
"Once the medal of valor is awarded, it cannot be diminished. It cannot be nullified, it is a fait accompli (accomplished) already," Calida said.
'Marcos not a medal of valor awardee'
National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Chair Serena Diokno claimed that research of the agency revealed that Marcos was not a medal of valor awardee, contrary to the late dictator's claim.
"We examined the medals given by the US...We found several telegrams, one of them was from the Washington stating that Marcos never received the medals," Diokno said.
Diokno also said that they carefully checked the historical details, looked at pattern of consistencies at the guerrilla unit which Marcos claimed to served.
But Calida during his presentation refuted NHCP's claims, saying Imelda Marcos is receiving from the government a monthly pension of P5,000 as a spouse of a war veteran and P25,000 for being a spouse of a medal of honor awardee. (Sunnex)