LIBERAL Party (LP) senators said they will appeal before the Supreme Court to exhume the body of late President Ferdinand Marcos, whose remains were buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on Friday, November 18.
In a press conference immediately after the burial, Senator Francis Pangilinan, who is the interim president of the Liberal party, said this move from the Marcoses only reopened the wounds of Filipinos who knew exactly the atrocities that happened during the Marcos era.
"Kung akala nila ay nasarhan nila ang sugat na bunga ng mga pang-aapi at pag alipusta at pagpatay sa karapatan pantao na bunga ng martial law noong panahon ng dating diktador na si Marcos ay nagkakamali sila," he said.
"We will not stop this fight. We will reverse this mistake and we are willing to wait. We owe this to our children," Pangilinan added.
The senator maintained that this move had deeply divided the country and reopened deep wounds of those who suffered, causing them to relive the gnawing pain and memory of loved ones jailed, tortured, murdered salvaged or who just disappeared because of the tyranny and oppression of then President Marcos.
Pangilinan said this move would only cause further division in the country instead of national unity “because the Marcoses to this day have neither shown remorse nor atoned for their sins during the Martial Law.”
“Burying a murderer and a thief in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is not 'moving on'. It is teaching our children to honor murderers and plunderers. It is not going to heal the nation nor will it unite us,” Pangilinan said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon said the stealthy and hurried manner by which the Marcos burial was orchestrated is reminiscent of the dark days of martial law.
Drilon said the atrocities perpetrated during martial law succeeded because the citizenry was kept in the dark.
“Marcos betrayed the country for decades; we should not allow him to continue to do so up to this day,” Drilon said.
“Like what Marcos did for 21 years, he caught us off-guard like a thief in the night. His burial is anything but noble. Even in death, he is a thief,” Drilon said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said the former dictator cannot escape the truth even if he is now buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Hontiveros described the burial honors given to Marcos as unacceptable.
"Nagpuslit sa kaban ng bayan, Pumuslit sa pananagutan at katarungan at ngayon, pinuslit ang kanyang bangkay para mabigyan ng isang pekeng parangal. Hangang sa dulo, nagnanakaw si Marcos. Ang kanyang pekeng hero's burial ay isang nakaw na sandali,” Hontiveros said.
Senator Paulo Benigno Aquino IV, for his part, said it is unbelievable that this things are happening, insisting that there were those who are trying to rewrite history using lies and deception.
Aquino said there is a motion for reconsideration, which must be given due respect by the Marcos family but was just ignored purposely. (Sunnex)