In denying a hero’s burial for Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, President Aquino has taken a courageous stand.
The President reaffirmed the historical fact of Marcos’ dictatorship and the high moral ground on which the President stands on the issue.
Marcos’ burial as a hero will negate the vital lessons we are today teaching our children and the younger generations of Filipinos.
For a leader to scrap our Constitution is wrong. To usurp political power is wrong. To kill political dissenters is wrong. To violate human rights is wrong. And to steal the people’s money is utterly wrong.
President Aquino’s decision is highly cour-ageous because it defies a petition of the House urging that Marcos be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The petition is signed by the majority of the House members, most of whom are allied with Malacañang.
By treating Marcos as a hero, we will be tearing down the historical wall that separates the good from the evil in Philippine politics, and it will reverse the verdict of the Edsa Revolution that brought us to this new point in our democratic quest.
—HEHERSON T. ALVAREZ, founding chair of the Ninoy Aquino Movement and former senator