MANILA, Philippines – A day after the head of the historical commission quit in protest over the heroes’ burial for dictator Ferdinand Marcos, protesters took to the streets of Metro Manila again yesterday to express their outrage.
Thousands gathered at the people power monument along EDSA in Ortigas while anti-Marcos activists faced off with a small group of supporters of President Duterte near Malacañang as the nation commemorated the 153rd birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio, hero of the revolution against Spain.
Condemning the administration’s decision to allow the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, over 3,000 anti-Marcos protesters from various organizations stayed along Recto Avenue near the Don Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge near the Palace, police said.
Around 400 Duterte supporters stayed at Mendiola Peace Arch while anti-riot policemen blocked the protesters from proceeding to the historic bridge to denounce Duterte’s decision to allow the Marcos burial at the heroes’ cemetery.
The pro-Duterte group called for a shift to federal system of government.
Labor groups that marched from Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City criticized Duterte for failing to abolish labor contractualization.
Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) national chairman Rene Magtubo slammed Duterte for both his decision to allow Marcos to be buried at the LNMB and the government’s inaction to ban contractualization and “endo” or end of contract after only six months’ employment.
“Marcos does not deserve to be buried there, but Gat Andres Bonifacio deserves that spot at the Libingan,” Magtubo stressed.
Magtubo said the issue persists because the Department of Labor and Employment listens to capitalists instead of laborers.
Flor Santos, vice-president of Sanlakas and a victim of martial law, aired the same sentiments, saying that Duterte is yet to deliver on his promise of change for the people and that he should not side with the rich like the Marcoses.
“The war on illegal drugs is the only thing he talks about, but the poor have not yet felt the change he promised,” Santos said in Filipino.
Members of the #BlockMarcos, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and Gabriela also called on the President to reconsider his decision to bury Marcos at Libingan and to promote regularization of jobs.
National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) spokesperson Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas said more than 3,000 anti-Marcos protesters also staged a rally at the People Power Monument in Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City.
Maria Serena Diokno, who recently resigned as chair of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to protest the Marcos burial at the LNMB, said that the battle against the sneaky burial of the late dictator would continue until something happens.
Diokno, who attended the rally at the People Power Monument on EDSA, said that they would visit schools, communities and other work places to inform the public about the dictatorship of the Marcoses.
Diokno recently stepped down as chair of the NHCP following calls from Marcos supporters for the appointees of President Duterte to resign if they believe that the decision of the President was wrong.
Boni Ilagan of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA) urged Duterte to cut his alliance with the Marcoses and listen to the grievances of the public, which so far have gone unheeded.
Ellecer Carlos, In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND) spokesman, said the Marcos burial is an insult to all human rights victims and the public should serve as the critical opposition as the administration has all branches of the government by its neck.
More than 3,000 rallyists coming from different parts of Manila converged at the EDSA Shrine, which serves as a memorial to the historic People Power Revolution that toppled the dictatorship in 1986.
The whole of White Plains Avenue was closed to traffic for the program, organized by the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial at the LNMB (CAMB-LNMB), which started at around 4 p.m.
Mila Aguilar, CAMB-LNMB member, said the rally condemns the administration’s sudden move of burying the former dictator at LNMB, which was a campaign promise of President Duterte.
Molitas said another group held a demonstration at the EDSA Shrine at the corner of EDSA and Ortigas Avenue.
Molitas said the rallies in various parts of Metro manila were generally peaceful.
Earlier, members of the Police Civil Disturbance Unit were ordered to observe maximum tolerance in dealing with protesters against the Marcos burial at the Libingan.
NCRPO director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde said they are prepared for any eventuality during the mass action that coincides with the Bonifacio Day holiday.
Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, who was a student leader jailed during martial law, said in a forum yesterday that anti-Marcos protesters should stop opposing the former president’s burial there and leave him in peace, and that he should not be blamed for the atrocities during that time.
“The ones to blame are the implementers, the soldiers who became cruel,” Atienza said. “How would Marcos know those atrocities?”
Vice President Leni Robredo did not join the rally at the People Power Monument yesterday but attended ceremonies honoring 19 individuals who fought the dictatorship.
Robredo attended the annual honoring and awarding of martyrs at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani also located in Quezon City. Liberal Party president Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo attended the event.
According to her staff, the Vice President was a guest of the family of the late Inquirer editor-in-chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, who was one of this year’s awardees.
Journalists Antonio Zumel and Lourdes Estella Simbulan were also honored at the event yesterday.
Others honored were Marciano Anastacio Jr., Fortunato Camus, Benjamin Cervantes, Hernando Cortez, Edgardo Dojillo, Ricardo Filio, Margarita Gomez, Joel Jose, Bishop Julio Labayen, Romulo Peralta, Jose Aquilino Tangente, Simplicio Villados and Danilo Vizmanos.
Meanwhile, the pro-Duterte group Kilusang Pagbabago marched from the Nagtahan Bridge to Mendiola to hold their program, which focused on their support to the President’s advocacy for a shift to federalism.
Former Laguna governor ER Ejercito spoke to the rallyists, saying that the goal of federalism is to “fight for a good and happy life and fight the old bureaucracy and corruption in government.”
He said federalism would balance the distribution of government powers and public funds.
CBCP appeal
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) appealed to parents to narrate to the youth the entire history of dictatorship and not to deodorize what is ugly or beautify the wrong.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said that to forget those who died during martial law is a mockery of their heroism.
Villegas said there are many protest rallies happening now across the country, which open the wounds of martial law initially thought to have been forgotten.
He said the youth, perceived to be indifferent, have united in expressing their patriotic sentiments.
“Maraming nawala, namatay, nasugatan at napinsala dahil sa martial law. Ang karangalan ng kanilang pagpapakasakit ay dapat na alalahanin (Many disappeared, died, were wounded and affected by martial law. The dignity of their sacrifice should be remembered),” he said.
Villegas said love of country reflects faith in God.
Most of all, Villegas urged the people to pray so that problems of the country would be solved the soonest possible time in a way that is peaceful, humble and with healing.
The Supreme Court had virtually caused the exoneration of “every plunderer, thief, murderer, human rights violator, and torturer in government” in allowing the burial of Marcos at the LNMB, Sen. Leila de Lima said in her petition before the SC.
De Lima, one of the petitioners to the Marcos burial case, filed a motion for reconsideration before the SC last Nov. 29, citing two grounds where the high tribunal grossly erred in its decision allowing the former dictator a hero’s burial.
She warned of the deleterious impact of the SC ruling last Nov. 8 upholding President Duterte’s discretion to order the Marcos burial at the Libingan.
“What is being attempted with the Marcos burial is not the vindication of Marcos alone,” the senator said.
“Burying Marcos at the Libingan is not moving on and uniting the nation. It is moving on, but only for crooks, trapos, cheats, and all other villains in public office, because the burial will justify every immoral and unlawful act that these public officials have done,” she said.
In her 10-page motion, the former justice secretary explained the guidelines of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, contained in AFP Regulations 161-375, used by the high court on the Marcos burial case are “incomplete, whimsical, and capricious.”
She said the SC has chosen to turn its back on this historic mandate vested upon it by the post-dictatorship EDSA 1987 Constitution…” with singular task of ensuring that such dictatorship and thievery is never honored again and does not make a comeback in this country.”
Former senator Rene Saguisag has joined the bid to reverse the Supreme Court ruling allowing the burial of Marcos at the LNMB last month.
In a pleading last Tuesday, Saguisag reiterated arguments against Marcos’ interment that he raised in his intervention bid, which was rejected by the SC.
A victim himself of human rights violations during martial law, Saguisag said the SC erred in upholding the decision of Duterte to allow the burial supposedly to promote national reconciliation.
“Now is not the time. Not while the Human Rights Victims Compensation Board is processing 75,000 claims and payment may be made next year or 2018. An admiring world in 1986 should look askance at us now as a sorry comic people honoring our own Hitler,” Saguisag argued.