By Raïssa Robles

UPDATE: Rafael Alunan again wrote on my website, this time to clarify that he was NOT referring to Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos as THE SCREAMING IDIOT. But to someone else:

Here is what he said:

Raissa, in the interest of accuracy, I did not refer to Bongbong Marcos as an idiot, so please correct the heading soonest possible. It was actually in reference to one of those who used a pseudonym screaming his disappointment on your wall why I did not take a stand. Like I posted in other walls that shared the erroneous heading, the fellow either doesn’t read too well, or has a comprehension problem or is simply too lazy to dig up the historical record.

Bongbong’s insistence does not surprise. He has been consistent in getting his father buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, even if he has to revise history to get it done. I am glad that PNoy upheld the Ramos administration’s position regarding the handling of the late president / dictator. It was unanimously and universally supported.

I hope this clarifies matters as this will be the last time I will speak on the subject as there is no point dwelling on a moot and academic issue, with or without screaming banshees..

 

Below is the original entry I made.

This is just too delicious to pass up.

And also unexpected.

Former Local Governments Secretary Rafael Alunan – the person assigned to deal with Imelda Marcos on the return of her husband Ferdinand’s body for burial in 1992 – commented on my piece entitled Did VP Jojo Binay mislead PNoy on the Marcos burial issue?

I’m reproducing below what Alunan wrote with all the mis-typing so you can get the flavor of his comment:

Raissa, your account is accurate as far as I know. i think the word negotiate is a misnomer. “Official position” is more like it. I delivered the Ramos administration’s position as follows in 1992:: the late-FM’s body to be flown directly to Ilocos Norte; it would have to be buried there immediately; and that mlitary honors due a major in the Armed Forces would be rendered. These were contained in a MOA signed between Mrs Marcos and me. The conditions were met or carried out except for the requirement for an immediate burial, which Mrs Marcos decided that it be an interment instead ala Stalin. Bongbong Marcos, then a Congressman, called for a hearing to demand an explanation why his father was being prevented from being buried at the Libingan. I told him that FM’s regime was overthrown just six years earlier antd that the wounds inflicted by the dictatorship on society were still fresh. To allow it would heighten the probabilitty of bloodshed and as Interior Secretary I said that I would never allow that to happen, not on my watch. It didin’t happen and still hasn’t. (So what is that idiot screaming about?).

Hmmm. Idiot.

I don’t recall Alunan ever using the word “idiot” when he was a cabinet secretary. He was quite diplomatic then.

Well, me, I would use the word manipulative.

The Marcoses have been manipulating that corpse since 1992.

And notice that not one of them has publicly spoken out to deny the preconditions that President Fidel Ramos gave them.

After PNoy spoke before FOCAP rejecting a hero’s burial for Marcos, his only son lambasted him and put this up on his site:

Sen. Bongbong also told Senate reporters:

Noong kampanya, ang ipinangako niya nang siya’y nangangampanya sa northern Luzon ay isang bagay—sabi nya, pag-upo niya ay pag-aaralan niya ito at nagpagawa pa siya ng study kay Vice President Binay. Pero ang puno’t dulo ay ganun din pala. Ang ang bagsak ay hindi naman pinagbasehan ang lahat ng sinasabi ng iba’t ibang grupo. Balik din pala tayo doon sa dati.

According to Sen. Bongbong,PNoy only promised to have a study made. That’s all.

Is it possible PNoy managed to put one over Bongbong? Naisahan?

Commenters have asked me why I am wasting precious time over this long dead issue over a cadaver.

My answer is that the Marcoses have been practicing necropolitics all these years: If daddy is declared a hero, Sen. Bongbong can package himself for the presidency as the son of the hero. And we’ll be in deep shit because most Filipino voters never knew how evil the Marcos dictatorship was.

Please read my story entitled –

Why the Marcoses want Ferdinand buried a hero; and why Bongbong Marcos is now a senator

Thanks.