Petitioners insist: Hero’s burial for Marcos would glorify dictator, distort history

Burying former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani would only glorify his status as a dictator who committed various offenses against the Filipino people during his 20-year rule, petitioners told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Opening the oral arguments by reciting Marcos' "cardinal sins" such as stifling civil rights and corruption, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said Marcos was a "despot" and an "oppressor" during Martial Law.

Lagman is representing the families of those who disappeared during the dictatorship.

"A Marcos hero’s burial would glorify a dictator, distort history, aggravate the injustice to human rights violation victims and their families and mock the heroism of desaparecidos and other victims of Marcos’ atrocities," the lawmaker said.

He urged the high court to "foreclose a national tragedy" by stopping the transfer of Marcos' remains from Ilocos Norte to the Libingan ng mga Bayani "now and forever."

"We can move on unhampered by a Marcos hero’s burial. In fact, the nation has been moving on until the momentum was interrupted by President Duterte’s announcement to purportedly redeem a campaign promise," Lagman said.

"The Marcos burial in the Libingan will not bring closure. It will intensify national disunity and discord. It will perpetuate a patent injustice."

Representing some Martial Law victims like former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Etta Rosales, lawyer Barry Gutierrez said President Rodrigo Duterte is constitutionally bound by statutes that recognize Marcos' atrocities such as human rights violations.

Lawyer Ephraim Cortez, meanwhile, warned of adverse effects to the rights and interests of victims of dictatorship if the burial would push through.

For his part, CHR Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Director Algamar Latiph said the Moros suffered so much during the Marcos years, highlighted by an insurgency that Duterte wants to end under his leadership.

Latiph insisted that the Libingan ng mga Bayani must be preserved as a "sacred burial ground," adding that putting Marcos' remains at the hero's cemetery is against rights of Martial Law victims to full and adequate reparation under the reparation law and international law.

The lawyer turned emotional while presenting his arguments, saying a relative was a victim of the dictatorship. 

As of posting time, the oral arguments at the Supreme Court were ongoing. — RSJ/ALG, GMA News