Duterte’s judgment call

When leaders make decisions we either agree or disagree. They can make good or bad judgments. When they seem irrational, we shake our heads and ponder. We ask ourselves what made them think that way. Why didn’t they use reason?

When Civil Wars, World Wars not to mention Gulf Wars were launched many were upset because lives would be at stake by the weapons of mass destruction. When the United States with the consent of the United Kingdom dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki questions arose about its ethical justification.

When China decided to take over the West Philippine Sea without respect to the convention on the law of the seas; claiming that those islands belong to them, we were aghast in total disbelief.

When President Benigno Aquino prioritized the cutting of the ribbon at the Mitsubishi car plant opening over going to the arrival honors of the slain cops (SAF 44), we were appalled by his insensitivity.

Today, we are faced with the decision the new president has made on the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

People who study the situation using the basic truth, the law, will right away agree with the president. But a man who thinks beyond this basic tenet will look for a higher level of reasoning, that is, the president’s ethical considerations.

The president shouldn’t just look at the small picture. He should look at the bigger picture where he predisposes the morale of the people.

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Hours before the declaration of Martial Law, my father, Max V. Soliven, invited as guest in his television show “Impact,” Ninoy Aquino, where they discussed Oplan Sagittarius, the top-secret military plan that would then propel President Marcos to absolute power. At 2 o’clock in the morning of September 23, 1972, my father was arrested by the soldiers of the dictatorship and was incarcerated for months until his release on probation. He was to report weekly at Camp Crame, banned to travel outside Metro Manila, and was prohibited to write for years. His friends would say – this was like preventing a singer from singing. His passion for writing however made his anti-Marcos sentiments known in every little way he could find, until he again went full-blast against the dictator when Ninoy was assassinated. I wonder how my father would have reacted if he had known then that on September 18, 2016, President Marcos will be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) with full military honors.

Naturally, those who were hurt by Martial Law would find allowing a most-hated president buried at the LNMB outrageous, even if the order comes from the most-popular President Digong. My personal bias aside, the relevant issue, as I see it now, is no longer the entitlement of Marcos to a burial lot at the LNMB, but whether or not President Digong is correct in allowing the burial for the country to move on from this lingering political issue. He said the “yellows” should have amended the law to expressly prohibit the burial of Marcos at the LNMB.

Now, he must apply the rule of law as it is. Indeed, Section 1 of RA 289 mandated the construction of the national pantheon (LNMB) as burial place of the mortal remains of ALL presidents of the Philippines, national heroes and patriots. On April 9, 1986, then General Fidel V. Ramos and President Corazon C. Aquino issued the AFP Regulation on allocation of cemetery plots at the LNMB stating that those who have been dishonorably discharged from service, or personnel convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, do not qualify for interment at the cemetery.

As it is apparent from the words used that the disqualifications would apply to military personnel, they should have included “ousted presidents” if that was the intent, so that there will be no debate as to the honorable people worth emulating who deserves a burial lot at the LNMB. As it stands now, President Marcos was not dishonorably discharged as a soldier, and he was never convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude since the damage suits filed in the US were civil cases.

Will rallies of anti-Marcos activists influence President Digong to call off the LNMB burial? Did he not say he would allow them to rally as long as they want? President Digong will be remembered for his willingness to put on the line his reputation, life and the presidency, for what he believes to be right. I think his “political will” cannot be broken by any amount of public pressure, especially now that even the public is divided on the issue.

There might even be more people at the LNMB interment than the anti-Marcos burial protesters in all rallies taken collectively. At the end of the day, the Palace can say that the law mandates the LNMB burial and that the Filipino custom of giving honor to the dead knows no political boundaries. Whether President Digong is right or wrong in allowing this burial to happen, it is his duty as a leader to make himself clear to the youth of the land. What message does he want to impart?

It is expected that petitions will be filed with the Supreme Court for a restraining order, but on what legal basis? A friend opined that even a creative interpretation of “dishonorable discharge” or “offense involving moral turpitude”, may not do the trick because these disqualifications are not in the law itself, and besides, the present Commander-in-Chief may amend the AFP Regulation. With the law appearing to side with the President, would the Supreme Court step in with an injunction and create a real constitutional crisis?

It would be interesting to find out, but with the recent exchange between the President and the Chief Justice on the narco-judges, I do not see any crisis coming. It is good for the country that the Chief Justice, who aired a valid concern, opted to resort to an honorable silence, and the president followed with a statesman apology for his harsh words in reaction to the letter of the Chief Justice. The public announcement of government officials with possible links to drugs, based on intelligence reports, is even more legally controversial than the Marcos burial as the former involves a constitutional due process issue.

It is evident that the president continues to enjoy the support of most Filipinos notwithstanding his unorthodox style and “nothing to lose” attitude in effecting the changes he wants. Reasonable or unreasonable as it may sound, we will need to deal with it. Right or wrong? It remains to be seen, but to the president’s credit, change is already happening. May he not fail the people’s confidence!