MARCOS is no hero.
This was the battlecry of Negrenses who joined the nationwide indignation against the surprise burial of the late president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) in Taguig City Friday.
In Bacolod City, militants trooped to the Fountain of Justice for a protest rally Friday afternoon.
The highly-secretive funeral plan shocked many advocates and human rights victims who planned several protests nationwide to oppose the burial at the cemetery, where former presidents, soldiers and national artists have been interred, unaware that funeral plans for the dictator were already underway.
Christian Tuayon, secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Negros (Bayan-Negros), said they are outraged because the burial was kept a secret to the public, adding that the Filipinos were betrayed especially the victims of human rights violations during Martial Law.
He slammed the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for conspiring with the Marcos family.
“He (Duterte) claims he’s pro-people. Before he left the country (for Peru), he had a press conference and he didn’t even mention the burial. He kept it a secret to the people,” Tuayon lamented. “We condemned this because the administration wants to recognize Marcos as a hero when he is a dictator.”
Negros Occidental Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said, “I echo what Vice President Leni Robredo said, ‘it was done like a thief in the night,’ just like when he declared Martial Law and arrested all his political opponents.”
He added that this burial will open the wounds of the Martial Law victims.
Travesty of judicial system
Bacolod City Councilor Caesar Distrito said, “this is a travesty of our judicial system. The Marcos family should have the decency and at least be obedient to the rule of law.”
He added that the rules allowed the petitioner to file a motion for reconsideration, but despite such available remedy to the aggrieved parties, they just set it aside and clandestinely buried the remains of the late dictator.
“They not only insulted the nation, and spit into the face of the Martial Law victims, they even flaunt such undue privilege given by the administration. It is a sad day for the nation, and sad day for our history,” he said.
He added: “The only nation in the world that allowed and rewarded a dictator, toppled by popular revolt, to be buried in a Heroes’ Cemetery, only in the Philippines.”
Fifth District Board Member Alain Gatuslao said the surprise burial was “disappointing.”
“The Marcos family decided not to wait for the end of the period for the petitioners against the late dictator’s burial to file a motion for reconsideration. Instead of allowing the process to make the decision final and executory, their actions have further divided an already fractured nation,” he added.
Contempt plea
The petitioners against Marcos’ burial at LNMB are planning to ask the Supreme Court (SC) to cite the Marcoses and the military in contempt for proceeding with the late strongman's burial pending the finality of the SC decision.
The contempt plea is set to be filed by the National Union of People's Lawyers, which represented petitioners former Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Neri Colmenares.
The camp of former Commission on Human Rights Chair Loretta Ann Rosales, a human rights violation victim herself during the Marcos regime, will also file the same motion with the SC.
“We are considering filing a motion next week to cite respondents in contempt for proceeding with the burial even if the SC decision is not yet final and executory,” said Barry Gutierrez, Rosales’s legal counsel.
Meanwhile, SC spokesperson Theodore Te said the Marcos family can proceed with the burial as there is no order stopping them from doing so.
“Ang status as of November 8 up to today is that the petitions are dismissed and the status quo order is lifted. Even if there is a motion for reconsideration, the legal status is that there is no order that stops the act at the moment,” Te said.
Voting 9-5-1, the Court last November 8 denied the petitioners motion to stop the government’s order to bury Marcos in the Heroes’ Cemetery.
The High Court said there is no clear constitutional or legal basis to hold that there was grave abuse of discretion in Duterte’s part when he directed the Department of National Defense to inter the dictator in Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The SC also held that Marcos’s remains could be transferred in the said cemetery as he is a former soldier, a statesman, and president. (with reports from Sunnex)