Cebuano groups oppose Marcos burial at ‘Libingan’

CEBU, Philippines - They might not be as many as their counterparts in Manila but Cebuanos who protest the burial of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani took their opposition into the open yesterday.

Teachers, lawyers, student activists, community leaders, and Martial Law victims gathered at the Plaza Independencia to air their opposition to the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Marcos' remains are scheduled to be buried at the cemetery on September 18, 2016.

The group said yesterday's activity was but a kickoff of a series of rallies here to convince the President to drop his decision.   Palace spokesperson Martin Andanar said yesterday, however, that Duterte will no longer change his mind.

Atty. Cathy Alvarez, one of the organizers of yesterday's gathering, appealed to "millenials" to continue the fight for freedom and democracy.

"Please help by fighting this fight. Let us give them the respect. The freedom that we enjoy now is because of them. Please do this for us," Alvarez said, referring to those who fought during the Martial Law years.

Alvarez said a President who have killed and tortured thousands of his own citizens does not deserve a hero's burial.

Teody Navea, Sanlakas-Cebu secretary-general, said allowing Marcos to be buried at the cemetery is tantamount to forgetting the past and the sufferings of the Filipino during Martial Law.

"Mapapas ang pakigbisog sa katawhan kung ipalubong gyud siya sa LNMB," Navea said.

Former Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon agrees. He said the move "is an insult to all those people who gave their life fighting the dictatorship to restore the democracy in the country".

"He is a fake hero," said lawyer Democrito Barcenas.

Emmalyn Aliviano of the Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya Described Duterte's decision as an insult to the Filipinos' intellect.

"Allowing Marcos to be buried at LNMB is adding insult to injury. It is an insult to the Filipino's intellect," she said.

Dennis Derige of PM said Duterte's decision is not a unifying action because Marcos ruled ruthlessly and divided the nation for over two decades.

"It is the Marcos family that needs to move on in this issue by doing a simple and final act of laying their dead in Ilocos," Derige said.

This Marcosian solution, he said, is the proper way of disposing a parochial problem common to powerful oligarchs that rule this nation.

"Consume your troubles as yours alone as the Filipino people have deeper problems to confront, many of which were in fact of your creation," he said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros who joined the  multi-sectoral rally at the Rizal Park, appealed to the Duterte administration to listen to the "call of the people and history."

"We cannot consider a hero the very man who caused the incarceration, torture and deaths of those who fought for justice, freedom and democracy," Hontiveros said.

 She said that Marcos went down in history as an unrepentant enemy of our heroes.

"To honor the man a hero and bury his remains in a place reserved for the brave and martyred is an inimitable political abomination. President Duterte must not commit this atrocious mistake," she added.

Last week, Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution No. 86, expressing the sense of the Senate that Marcos is "unfit to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani."

The resolution underscored Marcos' numerous crimes, including being liable to 10,059 plaintiffs for acts of torture, summary execution, and disappearances. (FREEMAN)