By Raïssa Robles
I’m sure dozens of lawyers are racking their brains trying to find THE argument to get the Supreme Court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order against the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Cemetery for Heroes
Well, Professor Mel Sta. Maria, a constitutional law expert, may have found it.
In his column today, the constitutional law expert and dean of Far Eastern University Institute of Law took apart the first section of the law that created Libingan ng mga Bayani (Republic Act. No. 289).
Section one of RA No. 289 states that Libingan is intended to be the “National Pantheon for Presidents of the Philippines, national heroes and patriots of the country”.
And Prof. Mel pointed out that Section 1 of RA 289 set specific conditions for building such a Pantheon. It is intended “to perpetuate the memory of all the Presidents of the Philippines, national heroes and patriots.”
However, the law further qualified the kind of memory the Pantheon should perpetuate. It said the National Pantheon “which shall be the burial place of their mortal remains” is meant “for the inspiration and emulation of this generation and of generations still unborn”.
As Prof. Mel so correctly points out,
“The spirit of the law is self-evident. The sacred place is the burial ground for honorable men and women only – as signified by the phrase: “for the inspiration and emulation of this generation and of generations still unborn”.
There is nothing inspirational or emulatory – meaning, worth-imitating – with respect to the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. The Marcos regime was one of the darkest periods in Philippine history. No less than a law, Republic Act No. 10368, acknowledged this. It stated:
” … it is hereby declared the policy of the State to recognize the heroism and sacrifices of all Filipinos who were victims of summary execution, torture, enforced or involuntary disappearance and other gross human rights violations committed during the regime of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos covering the period from September 21, 1972 to February 25, 1986 and restore the victims’ honor and dignity. The State hereby acknowledges its moral and legal obligation to recognize and/or provide reparation to said victims and/or their families for the deaths, injuries, sufferings, deprivations and damages they suffered under the Marcos regime.
To read the rest, pls. click on this link.
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Now that President Rodrigo Duterte has warned off Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno to lay off his drug war, will he turn ballistic if the court gives those opposing Marcos’ burial their time of day? And a TRO?
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Meanwhile, the Marcoses have managed to import a bronze coffin to encase Marcos in.
I wonder if they paid customs duties for this?
And what the freight on board (FOB) value is. Did the coffin cost millions?
Finding this out could be a test of President Duterte’s Freedom of Information Executive Order.
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There are also reports that aside from digging the hole for the coffin, the military has staged a dress rehearsal for the funeral of a long dead corpse.
My hubby Alan asked on Facebook, is this the dress rehearsal?
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Ang Lagalag also posted on Facebook this meme inspired by @bodgie pascua who said Marcos could be buried at Libingan provided this one condition was met:
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My suggestion is to file a taxpayer suit against the burial. Having the Marcos “body” buried there will mean a 24-hour guard to protect it from vandalism and bombings. That’s where part of our taxes will go.
And if the Marcoses insist on using the original design, where the coffin can be hydraulically lifted and the body viewed from time to time (see my story – Part 3: Ferdinand Marcos’ magic tomb), this would cost even more money.
Of course burying Marcos in Libingan would also mean setting another place there for the future use of Imelda Marcos, his partner in the conjugal dictatorship.
mayapula says
we have not heard from the family members who have relatives buried at the libingan. do they have a say? cant they cry foul?
moonie says
imelda would just have to buy them off. give them tons of money to buy their silence, their blessings too.
Ethel P David says
the relatives of National Artist Cesar Legaspi, one of whom is the singer Celeste Legaspi-Gallardo, had the remains of Cesar Legaspi exhumed as a protest against the Marcos burial.
moonie says
I am hoping more would follow and also exhumed their loved ones. imelda is dirtying the memories of the honorable dead by burying one who is a despot, a tyrant, and certainly not a bayani. else, I am starting to think, the relatives of the dead long buried had become silent because they have sold their honor to imelda. and are now, kissing imelda’s hand, much like what digong is doing.
cesar legaspi is lucky, he has honorable and principled relatives willing to uphold what is right and just.
kim says
A hero means a lot to different groups of people. To the loyalist and to those who were given favor by the Marcoses, for them he is a hero. However, to those surviving families of those tortured and executed during by the dark regime, for them he is not a hero but a heartless dictator. Since the bible is our standards or reference for righteousness, we will cite which verse why we callll him a hero or a righteous person. But before that this is his CV. At the age of 18 he killed Nalundasan. He was acquitted by Supreme Court because he is a genius. He faked his military records. He told lies countless lies. One is that he said he will not extend his term of office but in reality he stayed for 21 years. Another is that he lied about his ill gotten wealth. He had a sex scandal with Dovie Beams. Under his regime he hired the psychopath to torture his opponents. He killed 3,500 people and tortured several others and the human rights victims totalled almost 70,000. He built landmark infrastructures not out of the taxes but out of the external debt that amounted to 28 billion. He damaged all the institutions and caused our economic downfall. During his time, poverty incidence was 58%. Inflaton was high and many had no jobs. After EDSA revolution the PCGG recovered almost 4 billion dollars of his ill gotten wealth. He did not repent for what he did. Now, to the loyalists, cite which biblical verse that will make him righteous. Or just using your moral logic do you believe he is righteous? Will his misdeeds offsets his good works.
moonie says
kim, yay! I’m thinking of dressing up as dovie beams in drag and visit makoy’s grave. I’ll probly bring a bottle of piss, my own agua bendita, to bless makoy with. pero, my friends said, baka marilyn monroe is more apt, you know, her white halter dress and then standing on makoy’s grave, showing off her bare legs. makoy would love that, he, he, he.
Ann says
Marcos’ job was to contain if not exterminate the Communist Party of taking over the Philippines into killing fields. His job is to arrest all LP and known as Kultong Dilaw from the outset who sided with the Moro Rebels and NPA. His job is to suppress the ABiaS-CBN and other media platforms that were propagating lies.
On top of that, he made sure the Philippines will become a strong nation during his time. He provided security, infrastructures, health and education programs, created civil laws and represented the Philippines all over the world with greatness. He did all these while the previous, current and future generations benefit from them.
If he failed his job, then the Philippines could have been an extension of China or Malaysia therefor, Marcos in the sense of the word HERO, is in fact did his job greatly as greatest president of the Philippines. We are thankful we have another president that is saving the country from LP disaster that almost turned the country into NARCO-POLITICS, a country of Drug Addicts, an extension of China, Malaysia and becoming a Communist Party of the Philippines.
Long live Marcos as the saviour of the Philippines from the hands of China, Communist-NPA and YELLOW TURDS!
raissa says
You mentioned Communist-NPA. What about Duterte, bff of the Marcoses and friend of China, who is bent on forging a peace agreement with the CPP-NPA?
akosikasmot says
We should be friends to all nations. As for PDu30, it is his responsibility to maintain peace with China. God knows how powerful China is compared to us. You don’t want to provoke them, because even if the UN aid us in this war, always remember that the war will take place in our land. How many innocent lives are at risk?
BFF with the Marcoses? If you can provide substantial evidence proving this claim, then I will rest case. Is it not fair to say that PDu30 doesn’t share the same sentiment about the burial of the ex President? To bury him to the place where the other presidents are?
I only knew Pres Marcos during my history class. Believe me, I didn’t know that there were a lot of projects he made for the country, that are still being used until now. It made me think, was our history class meant to destroy Marcos even from the start? Is that how bad he is. The people who were tortured, killed, abused and alike does not share the same sentiments of the percentage of the Filipinos. I do not mean to offend the victims, if your after justice go to the Supreme Court or file a case or whatever. If we continue to act this way, we cannot be united as one.
moonie says
makoy save pinas for himself, he created his own killing field he can monopolized and killed his own people, specially those that did not agree with him, stiffled the media too, and many lost livelihood and were impoverished. maybe pinoy commies would have treated fellow pinoy commies better, we will never know. makoy brainwashed people into thinking all commies are bad. but he was worse.
those infrastructures makoy ordered built, the despot got no choice, else international donation in terms of millions of dollars would stop coming had he nothing to show. still, he kupit most of the money, salted the hoard in swiss banks.
as for digong being friendly with china, it’s not friendship, it’s like subjugation. slave bowing to master. I hope digong is aware that china is slowly transforming pinas into like north korea, friend with china, hostile to estados unidos and other free countries.
Jpsus says
Is it not Marcos only wish before death was to be
Buried beside his mother ??? Is the mother buried
In libingan ng mga tao? I mean bayani.
If so was she a hero too ?
I just want to know, can anyone help ???
raissa says
No.
Marcos’ mom in Batac.
Ancient Mariner says
President Duterte has stated that because Marcos was a soldier then he should be buried in LNMB.
If push comes to shove and Duterte has his way who says that Marcos should be buried amongst the Presidents? Let him be buried amongst the soldiers and be allocated the same amount of burial space as any other soldier.
Of course, this is only the last resort.
Junsalay says
The 16 million votes he garnered has definitely gone to his head and caused some terrible infection that it has bloated it to gargantuan proportion, thinking that anything he’ll do is okay because he has the “Davao”, the loyalists, and the naivity of the younger generations shouting at the top of their lungs in all forms of social media to “move on” to show off, obviously these younger generations used the precious web not to educate themselves but to flaunt their narcissistic ego to garner likes, a pity, has this thing hapened in my younger years?, My inclination to read anything would’ve been much much more enjoyable. A traitor(FM) whose father was also one, (mariano marcos was arrested by guerillas, tried and sentenced to die thru a horrific death because of being makapil, a traitor!), Is going to be buried alongside the true heroes of the republic because of simply being a soldier, was he?, He s a civilian affairs officer, fine!,he is a soldier but a soldier who never saw combat, and fabricated lots of stoties of him being a hero and according to him has delayed for 3 months the advance of japanese forces in bataan saving countless troops(the real heroes) from death with his maharlikan thugs (after further invistigation, the alleged group he mentioned were causing harm to civilians instead of keeping them safe, thus the “thug” term) to be used later for his political advancement (a strategist i may say with a brilliant mind, no denying) so having commited this?, Was he a soldier still?, I guess it would be safe to call him a criminal posing as a soldier even in his younger years, not to mention he was cnvicted and sentenced to 10-17 years in prison for the Nalundasan murder.
drill down says
regardless how you call the number of votes duterte garnered, keep in mind that majority opinions are not always right. think of the stupidity of mad crowds and the havoc they wreak when suddenly everyone realizes how wrong the crowds were.
netty says
I hope when the country is deep in the abyss of shitty mess that even the 16-18 million who voted for him would apologize to the rest of the Filipino people for leading the country to another darkness coming.
Three months and so much unreal things are happening in the guise of peace and what do we get?
More blood , killings, burial and arrogance of just one family from Ilocos that still has the power to dictate to the rest of the citizen.
If Marcos can be allowed to be buried in the LMB, the govt must do the same treatment to the OFWS AND THEIR IMMEDIATE families being hailed as the Modern Heroes of the PH for the money/remittances of billions alone that they input into the country and the monies they spent for making tourism alive and financially stable , too. Otherwise , all these praises are just bola and huge lies.
In 2015 , here’s the link of how important these people
OFW remittances reach $25.8B BILLION in 2015
http://www.mb.com.ph/ofw-remittances-reach-25-8b-in-2015/
The Marcoses, what have they brought to the country in general? Are they paying the right taxes or the dumb Pinoys still footing the bill for these suckers?
moonie says
good one, netty.
canadadry says
To think millions are reading this…oo nga
Bat walang OFW section sa Cemetery of Heroes
Bilyon Bilyon ang pinapasok habang ang mga minamahal ni Du30 na Marcoses, Bilyon Bilyon din ang nakulimbat bayani pa ang pagtingin ni Du30….Sabi nga eh Ogags talaga. Style bulok.
Kaya nga malaking disconnect yung sinasabi nyang ayaw ko ng corrupt…peke at palabas lang lahat.
BonaV says
OFWs brought in moneys to our cash strapped economy. On the other hand Marcos stashed the money out of the country to his hidden offshore accounts.
Baliktad na nga yata ang mundo. Rewards and accolades to the plunderers pa more!
Angelita says
This just goes to show the Filipino mentality, what our real hero, Jose Rizal, was trying to tell us during his time and which until now we still don’t get, “tonto pa gihapon”, tanga pa rin, hindi na natuto”!!
Maria Clara says
Yep! When the yellow was supported by the crowd, that’s one example!! And then, building of nation went downhill. Just saying.
vander says
cory’s biggest mistake to me is she didn’t do a saddam nor a hosni nor a ghaddafi to the waxman which is due for a dictator.
usa took away from filipinos the justice we were clamoring during that momentous past.
kalahari says
On 25 February 1986, FM called his friend, then US President Ronald Reagan, for assistance but seeing the futility of further resistance from FM due to withdrawal of supports from his front line troops, advised the dictator to “cut and cut cleanly” – and presto – 4 Sikorsky helicopters landed at malacanang and whisked away to Clark Air Base the hated family and their huge entourage and baggage that include precious jewels, boxes of hoarded pesos and dollars, etc – and transferred them to waiting C-130 planes bound for Hawaii.
It’s God’s will that the angry mobs were not able to tear to shreds the hated family and avoided bloodshed.
fed-up says
@vander, “cory’s biggest mistake to me is she didn’t do a saddam nor a hosni nor a ghaddafi to the waxman which is due for a dictator.”
“Cory’s biggest mistake” was due to Filipinos having a “soft, forgiving culture” which Lee Kuan Yew, the strongman who presided over the phenomenal economic growth of Singapore, has stated in his book “From Third World to First.”
Symon Victor says
Cory’s big mistake to me is having a cabinet members in opposing sides during martial law. Pinaghalo balat sa tinalupan. How can an Enrile and Joker A. be discussing what to do with the human rights victims.
raissa says
That’s tackled in Chapter 7 of my book.
Cory had no choice with Enrile.
Symon Victor says
I have your book Ms. Raissa but not yet fully read. I just cant imagine kasi what happened to the son of the Mijareses. How can people be so inhuman. Yet the sons of those who ordered and allowed it are having the best in life, wealth and power.
raissa says
True.
canadadry says
Wanted a marker symbolic of the young Mijares’ brutal murder
Since there is no marker for this young boy”s death as a reminder of how evil was the Marcos regime I wonder what marker in the Philippines we can use to share to our young, the Mijares family’s experience with the “civilized and heroic Duterte’s idol”..
How about the” M” in the McDonald sign? (for Mijares Murder by Marcos regime)
Or any public signage that would shout how murderous was the Marcos way of doing things now being imitated by Du30.
moonie says
my sick sense of humor says, maybe, the boy mijares ought to be buried in libingan too, next to makoy pls. the victim and the perpetrator, within arms lenght of each other. death is a great leveler. makoy is fake hero, the boy is real hero and there to complete the equation. the boy’s grave a reminder of those that fell in the wake of the fake hero’s reign of terror, felled before his time.
canadadry says
Wow moonie what an insight!…was the young Mijares ever given a decent burial? Tama ka..here is Digong whose heart “bleeds” for the unburied Marcos while real heroes like the fate of young Mijares and the young Mapua student (made to disappear by Imee) are conveniently denied by Marcos minions. May the faces of these 2 young Pinoys as well as millions killed under Marcos forever haunt every Marcos kid as they go to sleep at night. May the faces of those extra judicially killed under Digong likewise haunt his children and children’s children. Sabi nga the sins of the father will be visited on the children.
moonie says
the sins of the father visited on the son, that happened with the mijares too. the father mijares dead for writing the truth about marcos; his son mijares the boy was made to pay for his father’s action, and forfeited his young life. made to suffer hard and long.
mijares the boy, to checkmate marcos, there sa libingan ng mga bayani.
BonaV says
And the son who never really worked a decent single day in his life has the gall to file an electoral protest using the father’s illegally acquired wealth. In principle we are paying for that electoral protest! Hangang ngayon tayo pa rin ang gumagastos sa mga walanghiyang mga Marcoses na iyan.
Minmin says
Very true, BonaV
Symon Victor says
Ang tawag dun, ginigisa tayo sa sarili nating mantika. Sometimes you think of asking God, why and until when?
leona says
THIS HAPPENED? Now news reported at Washington Post by Ms. Emily Rauhala.
That time the Philippine president used a homophobic
slur to describe the U.S. ambassador
excerpt from the news:
‘”As you know, I’m fighting with [U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s] ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off,” Duterte said. (He was speaking in Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines, and the word for “son of a whore” isn’t quite as pointed as it seems in English. It might be compared to calling someone an S.O.B.)’
Obviously not funny in ‘Pinas on this.
Link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/10/that-time-the-philippine-president-called-the-u-s-envoy-the-homosexual-offspring-of-a-sex-worker/
canadadry says
So eager and can’ t contain the urge to go to to bed with China?
I somehow regard this latest Du30 gesture as a signal to China he’s their boy. Like the “shaming” episodes he has been undertaking ( in the guise of FOI). As if to tell China “Look, I’m shaming to the world the US ambassador in my country and even got money from the US Secretary of State”.
This is just disgusting. Walang sense of propriety, a lot of Pinoys have more relatives in US than in China. Bakit kailangang banggitjn pa ang kasarian, para matawa rin ang Tsina?
BonaV says
Eh iyon kayang mga bomoto lay PRD doon na lang mag migrate sa China tutal idol naman nila. O ano dare?
moonie says
no dare because under digong and with china’s subtle tutelage, our country is being transformed and will soon be like north korea, friend only with china and hateful of estados unidos. ito baga ang chance na pinagmamalaki ni digong meron reign of fear with so many poor people killed. and china must be terribly happy. medyo tulog si digong and is not fully aware what china is really up to.
moonie says
ay, sobrang homophobic yang si digong, suklam na suklam pa sa mga pulubi. utos niya, shot and kill drug addicts and pushers, but only the poor. rapist daw kasi yong mga addicts ganon din ang pushers and yet, cannot say how many of those killed drug addicts and poor pushers were indeed known rapists. kulang ng supporting data.
dada ng dada si digong, he ought to learn when to shut up and not to say the 1st thing that comes to mind, but to engage his mind 1st b4 opening his mouth. once words are released, they’re difficult to take back. and if taken back, it’s humiliating, he’ll end up apologizing, backed into a corner.