Congressmen, anti-Marcos groups push for exhumation

Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos was finally buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) in Taguig City Friday noon in a ceremony kept confidential from the public, drawing outrage from Vice President Leni Robredo, lawmakers, and other critics of the former strongman.

“Like a thief in the night, the Marcos family deliberately hid the information of burying former President Marcos from the Filipino people,” said Robredo in an official statement.

But congressmen and anti-Marcos groups are not losing hope of denying the deposed leader of an honorable interment as they are now moving to push for exhumation.

“If the ‘remains’ of the dictator are exhumed, then it is opportune that a forensic examination be conducted to determine whether what was buried were his mortal remains or a mere wax replica,” said Albay Rep. EdcelLagman.

The remains of the former president was airlifted via a military chopper from Batac, Ilocos Norte, at about 9 a.m. Friday and arrived at the LNMB at about 11:30 a.m. for the interment and final burial rites at noon.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesman, said that following the arrival honors, the remains of the late president, who died in 1989 or 27 years ago, was carried aboard a black limousine to the LNMB, where his flag-draped wooden coffin was put on a horse-drawn carrier and later carried by military pallbearers to the the entombment area. The military honored the former president with a 21-gun salute.

Padilla said the late president was buried underground at an area reserved for former presidents, not necessarily beside other presidents.

He added that a big portion of Marcos’ tomb was already constructed before the Supreme Court released the status quo order.

“There was a cauldron with flame. It was a simple entombment area with a marble finish,” Padilla said.

About a hundred people, including acting AFP chief of staff Gen. Glorioso Miranda and PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa, were present during the ceremony.

“It was the wish of the Marcos family to keep the burial secret,” Padilla said.

“The AFP did not decide on making this a no-media event. We just complied with the desire of the family,” he said.

Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde, the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said that about 1,000 policemen were deployed at the LNMB to provide security and manage traffic.

Marcos wish

For her part, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos said it was the wish of his late father to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

She also thanked President Duterte for allowing the burial to take place and the Supreme Court (SC) who upheld the decision.

“Finally, on this day the wish of my beloved father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos to be buried together with fellow soldiers was finally fulfilled.

“Me and my family wholeheartedly thanked those who have proven his right to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. First and foremost, to President Duterte who suggested this, to the Supreme Court who upheld the decision, and the thousands who showed their love and care for my family,” Marcos said in her statement.

“You were together with us who dreamt and prayed in almost three decades that this day will come. That’s why I’m asking for an apology and understanding for our decision to make the burial of my father simple, private, and solemn so that those who are hurting will further not be affected.”

Nothing new

But Robredo said the “hidden burial” of the late president is “nothing new to the Marcoses” who “had hidden wealth [and] hidden human rights abuses.” She stressed that the hidden burial also reflects the family’s “complete disrespect for the rule of law.”

The Vice President condemned the Marcos burial, citing several decisions from the Supreme Court that the late president was a “thief, a murderer, and a dictator.”

Supreme Court spokesman Theodore O. Te said there was no order from the High Court stopping yesterday’s burial of the late former President at the LNMB.

“There is no order prohibiting it because the status quo ante order (SQAO) has been lifted,” Te said in a text message to a television network which he confirmed.

The SC, in a decision handed down last November 8, allowed the LNMB burial of Marcos.

President Duterte, in a statement read by Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, stressed that the decision to bury the former President was a personal choice of the Marcos family.

According to Abella, as far as they know the President was not aware of the exact date of the Marcos burial to quell speculations that the timing of the burial was set on the date of his trip to Lima, Peru, to avoid a backlash from the masses who opposed the burial at the LNMB because the former dictator was not a hero.

“Malacanang’s denial that they don’t know about this is pure hogwash,” said Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin.

Collective dismay

Like Vice President Robredo, lawmakers and anti-Marcos groups expressed their collective dismay, disgust, and disbelief over the secretive burial of late dictator.

Liberal Party (LP) president Senator KikoPangilinan said the hero’s burial given to Marcos just made the Philippines a laughing stock all over the world.

“Isang pinatalsik na magnanakaw at diktadura ay inilibing sa Libingan ng mga Bayani (A deposed plunderer and dictator has been buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery),”Pangilinan said in a statement.

Another LP senator in Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon echoed these feelings of a grim “throwback” in connection with the burial.

“The stealthy and hurried manner by which the Marcos burial was orchestrated is reminiscent of the dark days of martial law,” he said in a statement.

Kept in the dark

“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.

“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 added.

Even Senate President Koko Pimentel, president of PartidoDemokratiko Pilipino-Lakasng Bayan (PDP-Laban), couldn’t hide his true emotions over the late strongman president’s hero’s burial.

“What they did was wrong,” said Sen. Francis“Chiz”Escudero, a member of the Senate minority.

According to Escudero, the way the burial was carried out would “further fuel the protests and division of our country on this issue”.

Duterte accountable – Bam

Sen. Bam Aquino reckoned that Duterte should be held accountable over the burial for the simple reason that he gave the green light for it.

“Of course [Duterte should be held accountable], because it’s his decision to do this,” Aquino said in a chance interview.

Truth can’t be buried

Lady senators Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros underscored that the truth about the Marcos presidency can’t be undone despite the late leader’s burial at LNMB.

“Hindi maililibing ang katotohanan ukol sa kabuktutan, karahasan at pandarambong noong panahon ng Batas Militar (The evils, violence and plunder that occurred during martial law won’t be buried with him),” De Lima said in a statement.

Hontiveros, for her part, declared: “No grave, no mausoleum, no court decision or directive from any president can hide the truth that Marcos isn’t a hero.”

Opposition optimistic

Lagman remained optimistic that the majority who joined the 9-5 Supreme Court ruling authorizing the LNMB burial will reconsider their decision and uphold the legal contentions raised by him and anti-Marcos groups who petitioned for the denial of a hero’s burial for the alleged dictator.

“The clandestine burial of Marcos is in the malevolent mold of the Marcoses’ propensity for abuse, deception, deviousness and underhandedness,” Lagman. (With reports from Rey G. Panaligan, Ellson A. Quismorio, Freddie G. Lazaro, Bernie Cahiles Magkilat, Elena L. Aben, AP, and AFP)

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Francis T. Wakefield, Ina Hernando Malipot, and Ben R. Rosario

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]