On the Marcos burial issue

As I have written in my recent columns, I’ve put behind me my objection to the election to the presidency of Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and I am one of many citizens who are now giving him our support for his strategies to make things better for our country. True, this maverick gentleman from the south has brandished his unforgiving sword on drug users and dealers and manufacturers (and hopefully drug lords) – a reformative personal policy that has drawn ayes and nays from the public. His vision of cleansing society of forces of evil that destroy especially the next generation appeals to me.

Criticisms of human rights violations do not affect the president, however. And that’s what bothers me. What he wants, he gets. And he listens to no advice – not even to solicited advice, I surmise,  from his presidential spokesperson, Ernesto Abella, whose unsullied admiration for his boss I’ve heard on various occasions, the latest one being at the celebration of Silliman University’s 115th Founders Day celebration sponsored by the Sillimanians in Metro Manila.

I’m still curious, with hope eternally springing from my human breast, about whether he would listen to public opinion regarding the question of whether the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ remains should be buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

Thousands upon thousands of  rallyists expressed their vehement opposition to the president’s decision to have the dictator buried in Taguig by marching in the rain; not only were they yellow-colored elites, as described by the pro-Marcoses, but included the best and brightest of legislators and economists, Mar Roxas and Kiko Pangilinan, Victoria Garchitorena, wealthy businessmen, poets and writers, poor-looking men and women, and victims of martial law and suppressed freedoms of speech and of the press. How can we allow a deposed dictator to be buried in the hallowed grounds of men who valiantly, without forging tales of fake medals, fought and died for their country?

The Marcos family was forced into exile in Hawaii in 1986. Marcos died in 1989. One recalls the 1992 agreement made between the administration of former President Fidel V. Ramos and the Marcos family re allowing the deceased Marcos’ return to the Philippines. The conditions, according to Rafael Alunan III, who represented the Philippine government, were that the body would be flown straight from Hawaii to Ilocos Norte, that it would be given honors befitting a major, his last rank in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the body would not be paraded in Metro Manila, there would be no burial at the Libingan, as Marcos had wanted to be buried beside his mother’s grave in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

Marcos’ remains arrived in September 1993. The conditions were met, the body was kept in a refrigerated crypt in Ilocos Norte. During the last few years, the Marcos family, some of whose members have been elected to Congress and local political posts, has been asking for the transfer of the body to the heroes’ cemetery within Fort Bonifacio in Western Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila. The 1992 agreement is still binding, according to Alunan, but President Duterte now has full authority to decide on the transfer. On the strength of his friendship with the Marcos family, the president has agreed to have Marcos buried in Taguig, with complete military honors.

Now there exists a noisy recounting of the dark and cruel Marcos regime.

The well-respected Boholano academician Jose “Pepe” Abueva in his column “The Bohol Chronicle,” as early as 2015, wrote:

“The cumulative outcome and costs of the Marcos dictatorship that added over 13 years to his seven years as a constitutional president were incalculable. He was not content with being the only president who had been reelected to a second year of four years in 1969. However enormous, his plunder of the nation’s wealth is only one of the costly consequences of his evil rule.

“During his two decades in power the Philippines fell far behind several neighboring countries in East Asia in the pursuit of development, and became ‘the basket case’ in the region. Democracy was destroyed, the economy was in ruins, and the cul­ture of corruption, violence and cynicism aggravated.

“Thousands of Filipinos were killed, imprisoned, tortured, displaced from their homes and communities, or simply disappeared without a trace. Also with impunity, women were raped and degraded by the military, po­lice, and other criminal elements. . .”

Comparisons have also been made between Ferdinand Marcos and Lee Kuan Yew’s authoritarian style of governance and Singapore’s success, wrote Abueva. But in his autobiography, “From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000”, Lee relates: “It is a soft, forgiving culture. Only in the Philippines could a leader like Ferdinand Marcos, who pillaged his country for over 20 years, still be considered for a national burial. Insignificant amounts of the loot have been recovered, yet his wife and children were allowed to return and engage in politics.”

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Dolly de Leon, an active leader in  the No-to-Marcos-burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, in her relentless messages to her kababayans, even on social media, cited President Duterte’s pronouncement that he will “allow the burial of President Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani not because he is a hero. He was a Filipino soldier, period.”

Dolly retorts: “Not all soldiers were buried in the Libingan ng Mga Bayani. Burying (Marcos) here will label him a hero whether he was a Philippine solider or not. Those who were dishonorably separated, reverted, or discharged from the service, and those who were convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude cannot be buried at the cemetery. Marcos was ousted from power. On these grounds alone, he is not qualified. Ferdinand Marcos is not a hero. Only heroes are buried in the Heroes Cemetery as the name so literally states.”

“Please consider your position on the matter,” cries Dolly, et al.  

Will President Duterte listen?

He will, if you believe that miracles happen.

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A new book by Visitacion “Chit” R. de la Torre, Filipino Cultural Symbols, Expressions and Brands, delineates the Filipino identity and his cultural heritage. The book provides another texture of the Filipino identity – the images that point to or reveal diverse facets of the Filipino, the expressions he uses and the brands that have engaged the popular imagination of the Filipino then and now.

Published by Brown Movement for Cultural Advancement Inc., the book categorizes the symbols into built structures, natural wonders, material objects, travel destinations, rituals/traditions, and personalities.

Among Filipino concepts/expressions that De la Torre discusses in the book include, kapwa, pakikipagkapwa, hiya, sense of malasakit, kagandahang loob, buo ang loob, iginuhit sa palad, barkada, jeproks, pampataba ng puso, diskarte, kayod marino, pusong mamon, kuwentong kutsero, kuskos balungos, bigay todo, lukso ng dugo, etc.

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This is de la Torre’s 39th book. Her other works include The Ilocos Heritage, More Grace and More Magic, Lipa: A Jewel of a City,  The Barong Tagalog: the Millennium Edition, Cultural Icons of the Philippines, Landmarks of Manila (1571-1930), The Filipino Child.

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Email: [email protected]