Improper subject for a compromise
The least that one can say about the Marcos family’s request to allow the burial of the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani with full military honors is that it was totally insensitive. To begin with, Marcos was the staunch political enemy of President Aquino’s father, Ninoy, who was assassinated after being forcibly escorted off the plane by military men shortly after it landed at the then Manila International Airport. He had decided to return from exile in the United States to try to reason out with Marcos about restoring democratic government in the Philippines. Ninoy’s assassination caused his family so much pain.
The absurdity of the Marcoses’ request, perhaps, becomes clearer with this comparison: Years from now, the family of the Andal Ampatuan Sr. would make a request to have him buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani with full state honors for the reason that he had served once as governor of Maguindanao.
Just because Marcos’ son, Bongbong, has been elected senator does not mean that the sins of his father against the Aquinos and the nation at large are now all forgiven. His election simply means that the people who voted for him might have thought that he was too young during martial law to have anything to do with the corruption and the human rights violations attributed to his father. Marcos senior never got to be haled to court in the Philippines only because he was in exile. The fact that a huge part of the Marcos loot has been returned to our government for distribution to martial law regime’s human rights victims is proof enough of his guilt of corruption and human rights violations. Even if Bongbong gets elected president, there will still be strong opposition to his father’s burial at the Libingan. Just as the Ampatuan massacre will never be an appropriate subject for political compromise in the spirit of reconciliation with the victims’ relatives, the same is true for the killings and plunder that happened under Marcos’ watch.
—MARY JOAN ANGELES,
