SolGen maintains Libingan ng mga Bayani not only for heroes

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Wednesday maintained the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) in Taguig City is not only for heroes but mainly for soldiers and statesmen.

During the second round of the oral arguments before the Supreme Court (SC) on consolidated petitions opposing the government’s plan to bury former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the LNMB, Calida pointed out that “in reality now,” many civilians lie at the LNMB.

Calida said three former SC justices, their wives and respective chief of staff were buried at the LNMB.

Even the remains of Marcos’ former vice president Arturo Tolentino lie at the LNMB, he said.

“In reality now, the Libingan is a military cemetery but with certain individuals also interred there. In particular, three Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, their widows, chief of staff, as well as national artists,” Calida said.

“Even Senator Arturo Tolentino, the Vice President of Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted in 1986, is interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” Calida added.

Tolentino served as a senator during martial law and was chosen by Marcos in the 1986 snap elections to be his running mate.

Tolentino defeated Salvador Laurel, the running-mate of then presidential candidate Corazon Aquino during the supposedly rigged snap elections.

The massive cheating in the elections eventually led to the EDSA people power revolt in February 1986.

Thus, Tolentino’s stint as vice president was short-lived.

During his interpellation, SC Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, asked Calida on the effectivity of Presidential Decree 105 signed by Marcos in 1973.

PD 105 declares national shrines as “hollowed and sacred places” due to their significance in the lives of the country’s heroes and eminent leaders and therefore must never be desecrated.

Caguioa pointed out that since LNMB is a national shrine, it is the policy of the state to hold it as “hallowed and sacred”.

Calida, however, submitted that LNMB does not fall under PD 105’s definition of national shrine.

“It is our position that the Libingan ng mga Bayani is not covered by PD 105. This proclamation states that the national shrines are the ‘sites of the birth, exile, imprisonment, detention or death of great and eminent leaders of the nation’,” Calida said.

“Clearly, the LNMB is not the site of birth, exile, imprisonment, detention or death of those interred there,” he added.

Calida also maintained that Marcos is qualified to be buried at the LNMB not only as a former president but mainly because he was a former soldier.

“It is undeniable that Marcos was a military officer, a war veteran. He was a soldier and honorably discharged from the military service,” Calida said. —ALG, GMA News