Chiz’s skewed sense of history

I couldn’t agree more with Frando Sarmiento (“Let’s call a spade a spade,” Opinion, 9/29/14) when he challenged every Filipino “to keep up the debate and the noise” on the injustice that the Libingan ng mga Bayani burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos will wreak on the nation’s sense of right and wrong. And like him I was outraged and find Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s suggestion to bury Marcos’ remains at the Libingan full of holes. Was this meant to ingratiate himself to the late strongman’s partisans and thus win their support come election time?

The senator urges “putting a dot at the end of the sentence vis-à-vis the dictator’s body” by allowing his remains to be buried in the resting place of patriots and heroes, and from there “move forward.” If that happens it will only guarantee our country’s moving backward. I—like many Filipinos, I’m sure—couldn’t care less about the dictator finally interred. But at the Libingan? Already this hallowed resting place has dubious tenants; adding one more would be too much salt rubbed on the nation’s wounds. If Chiz pines for closure and moving on, so are we.

Perhaps Chiz was not too aware of the martial law history as he was probably too young then. But for many of our generation and those before ours, the dark period of Marcos’ martial reign left a scar we have to carry for the rest of our lives.

If Chiz gets his way, what will happen to the selfless sacrifices of those who fought the Marcos dictatorship—Ninoy Aquino, Evelio Javier, Ed Jopson, Lean Alejandro and the many other freedom fighters whose mangled bodies were left to rot in unknown bowels of the earth, deprived of dignity?

I’ve been hearing criticisms that suggest one of our national ills is our citizens’ short memories. After watching history unfold in those eventful years and seeing how many people look at them now, I say: The observation is well-founded.

“Those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it,” said one of the eminent thinkers of his time, George Santayana. The Marcoses are banking on the country’s amnesia in their bid to rewrite historical facts.

I shudder at the thought of our country ever going through another dark episode of martial law. And one of the best guarantees that there would not be any repetition of this sad chapter is for the surviving Marcoses to own up to their patriarch’s martial law sins, show remorse and ask for forgiveness. These are conditions precedent before the country even talk of any state honors.

Whatever, the country’s decision on what to do on Marcos’ remains will leave an indelible mark on the Filipinos sense of values. Turning down the Libingan burial that the Marcoses want would remind power holders, now and in the future, of Marcos’

misfortunes before they ever consider tempting the limits of state powers again.

Let the gates of the Libingan ng mga Bayani be forever sealed from those who do not deserve to lie peaceably on its sacred ground.

—TED PEÑAFLOR,

Subic Bay Freeport Zone,

[email protected]