Hero or heel: when it becomes a question of evidence

One for all. All for one.

An attack on ONE is an attack on EVERYONE.

An attack on those who vehemently opposed the Marcos dictatorship was tantamount to an attack against those who didn’t.

Or to put it simply; the torment of the victims of the Marcos dictatorship is equally the torment of the Filipino people as a whole. The degradation of the dignity of one Filipino is also a degradation of the dignity of all Filipinos. “Ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay damang-dama ng buong katawan.”

Likewise, the healing and the giving of justice to every Filipino citizen are tantamount to the healing and giving of justice to all Filipinos. And it is for this reason that the greater majority (those who were not victimized or those who didn’t experience the unimaginable human suffering wrought by the evils of martial law) should empathize with those who suffered a lot. This is the essence of solidarity. Overall, solidarity is CHARITY and JUSTICE.

To bury Ferdinand E. Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani without giving justice to the victims is to cut anew the wound of abuse on human dignity inflicted upon the victims and this nation during the 14 long years of the Marcos dictatorship. It would be better that, to save this nation from tearing apart, he be buried outside the cemetery for heroes.

Let the Marcos family and its cohorts forget the Libingan. Let them move on first if they really can’t atone for the sins of their patriarch or for their own sins against the Filipino people.

Some of those buried in the Libingan may not be heroes, but this does not make Marcos, supposedly a recipient of several medals of valor, eligible for burial in the Libingan. But, to be sure, they are much worthier of a burial there than Marcos is. For he slaughtered over a thousand of his own people during his cruel regime—more than the number of Japanese soldiers he killed during World War II. As a soldier during World War II, did Marcos really kill hundreds or thousands of Japanese troops, that he ought to be awarded a medal of valor automatically and be honored with a burial in the Libingan?

Are there proofs to attest to his heroic feats? Or are the proofs of those he killed (more than a thousand, perhaps) during his regime more certain and reliable? If that is the case, is it logical to bury him in the Libingan?

PEDRO DOTILLOS JR., ptdotillos@dlsud.edu.ph