Third petition filed vs Marcos burial

MANILA, Philippines — Victims of human rights violations under the regime of the late President Ferdinand Marcos filed a petition against his burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.

Former Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales, Philippine Entertainment Portal editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon and 12 other Martial Law victims sought for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the burial of the late dictator.

"To honor a dictator is to dishonor his victims. To bury him at the Libingan is to honor a plunderer and a thief found guilty of ill-gotten wealth by no less than this honorable court," Rosales said at a televised press conference, reading the petition the filed before the high court.

Rosales, a former teacher at the Jose Rizal College, suffered torture under martial law. She was brought to a safe house in Pasig City where she was stripped naked, suffered the Russian Roulette, electric shock, strangulation and candle burns.

"To bury Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is to dishonor the survivors of torture, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, dehumanization, forced exile, physical and psychological abuse. To accord him the pomp and pageantry of a hero's burial is to dishonor the victims of murder, summary executions, forced disappearances and massacres whose only memorials are the courage and patriotism or the lives they gave up," the petition read.

Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez noted that the main difference of the third petition is that they provided additional grounds against the hero's burial for Marcos.

Gutierrez stressed that a hero's burial for Marcos is unconstitutional and cited that there have been abuses and killings under the late dictator's regime.

The lawmaker argued that Marcos was a criminal, a human rights violator and that burying him at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is an attempt to rewrite history.

"Marcos should not be treated as a hero but a criminal," Gutierrez said.

Malacañang maintained that the burial of Marcos will push through in September unless the Supreme Court issues a TRO against it.

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