A Hero or A Dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani?

Position Paper

Last November 2016, the issue about former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.
secretly buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani captured the countrys nationalistic attention
and gained disappointment from the public. The Philippines was divided into groups who
favored and counter the decision of the existing President and the Supreme Court about the
pending request of the Marcoses on the burial of their late father. Rallies, protests and
demonstrations were done by the family of the Martial Law victims, student activists, and
those who are against the Marcoses to show their opposition to the verdict.

But did President Rodrigo Duterte made the right decision of granting the plea of
the Marcoses to finally rest his body at the Libingan ng mga Bayani? Does former President
Ferdinand Marcos Sr. really deserve to be considered as a hero and be buried at the said
heroes grave?

According to Republic Act 289, Libingan ng mga Bayani is a national pantheon for
presidents of the Philippines, national heroes, and patriots of the country. Marcos remains,
under regulations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, can be interred at the Libingan ng
mga Bayani because he was a former president, commander-in-chief, soldier, medal of
valor awardee and legislator. He was also a war veteran who fought side by side with our
guerrillas who thirst for freedom and a president that made the Philippines a better
country. Moreover, he was never been convicted with the issues and cases filed against
him. Supreme Court ruled that there was legally no obstacle that prohibits the burial of late
President at the national cemetery.

Despite all these, according to AFP Regulation 161-375 as to who is/are qualified to
be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, those who have been dishonorably discharged
from service or personnel convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude should not be
buried in the said cemetery. Therefore, Ferdinand Marcos being a plunderer and human
rights violator is not qualified to be considered as hero and be buried in Libingan ng mga
Bayani. Moreover, some people argued that the law (Section 1 or RA 289) which stated it
only allows the burial of a president or soldier worthy of public inspiration and emulation
and that the burial of the late President at the LNMB simply mocks and taunts Section 1 of
RA 289.

Former President Benigno Aquino Jr. said that one of the reasons why he did not
want the remains of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. be interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani was
because the Marcoses borrowed massive amount of money from international banks and
this amount was used for infrastructure building but part of this amount was put into
personal gain and wealth of the Marcos family. Up until this very moment, the Filipino
people are still paying these massive debts (Rappler, 2015). Furthermore, during the
Marcos dictatorship, unexplained killings and disappearances, human rights violations,
massive plunder of government funds and resources and crony capitalism that bled the
country dry were very prevalent. Ferdinand Marcos Sr. have inflicted damages on the
nation in which it continues to hound the Filipino people to this very day and will continue
to do so for many years to come. Tony Lavia, a political analyst argued that the burial of
the late President Marcos will create a stigma that the Philippines is the only country who
accorded a hero status to a dictator who plundered the country blind, curtailed basic
freedoms, and trampled on basic human rights.

I could possibly infer that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was indeed a hero and therefore
qualified to be buried in the hallowed ground of the Libingan ng mga Bayani. However, I
could not simply disregard the history, the truth that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. violated human
rights, corrupted national resources and deceived the Filipino people. How can a man who
was responsible for murdering at least 3,240 people, torturing at least 34,000 people,
illegally detained 70,000 Filipino citizens and corrupted at least 15 billion dollars in the
national monetary resource be given the privilege of being called a hero and be buried at
the Libingan ng mga Bayani just like every decent and honourable Filipino resting there.

Furthermore, the arguments imply that Marcos did not respect the justice system of
this country. We should always remember that justice entails accountability. We can never
ever accept someone who did not even remorse and held accountable with the violations
he did against the sovereign citizen of this country to be considered as a hero. The families
of the victims of the Martial Law who up until now is seeking for justice for their loved ones
will never be pleased to know that the dictator who caused the lives of their family was
given the recognition as a hero while their loved ones and the other victims bodies has
never been found. The very act that the Filipino people ousted Marcos from his seat as the
President during EDSA I Revolution is a clear evidence that he was not a great person, not a
hero, and therefore not qualified to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

From the facts stated above, I therefore conclude that the late President Ferdinand
E. Marcos Sr., is not and will never become a hero. If he is a national hero, why is it
necessary to make his burial unannounced? Because, if we would deeply think about it, a
heros burial should not be a secret. Up until the very end, Marcos and his family deceived
the Filipino people. We should never forget one of the darkest time ever happened to the
history of the Philippines. We should not disregard what the EDSA I have fought for, the
lives of the people who died fighting for our democracy and our human rights.