THE KAPISANAN ng mga Gurong Retirado (Kaguro), an association of retired school officials, teachers and other education workers based in Metro Manila, views with concern and apprehension the furor caused by a proposal to bury the late strongman of Asia at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Kaguro believes that the proposal only succeeded in promoting divisiveness among the Filipino people as it moved the supporters and opponents of the idea to declare former President Ferdinand E. Marcos “a hero.”
We question the motive behind the controversial proposal as we deplore the idea of honoring a homegrown tyrant and dictator who ordered and caused the summary execution of activists and political dissenters, arrested journalists and writers critical of the conjugal dictatorship, plundered the nation’s wealth, padlocked Congress, rigged elections and plebiscites and issued orders and proclamations curtailing the people’s rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution.
Moreover, the claim of Marcos loyalists that he was a war hero had been clearly and effectively debunked by former Rep. Bonifacio H. Gillego of the second district of Sorsogon. The Bicol solon, who served in the military before becoming a lawmaker, had proven that Marcos’ medals and citations for courage and bravery are fake. And significantly, the ouster of Marcos during the peaceful People Power Revolution on Feb. 22-25, 1986 was a very clear proof that the Filipino people had repudiated him.
Kaguro, therefore, joins the horde of institutions, organizations, cause-oriented groups, opinion makers and other well-meaning sectors of society opposing the burial of the unlamented dictator in the sacred cemetery in Fort Bonifacio.
The Marcos family, friends and loyalists can give him a decent burial in the most expensive memorial park, but certainly not in the hallowed grounds of the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
—EUSEBIO S. SAN DIEGO,
founder/spokesman, Kaguro
and former president, QCPSTA,
essandiego@ymail.com