Unspeakable crime vs Filipinos

WE, MEMBERS of the August Twenty-One Movement, state our opposition to the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The Libingan is hallowed ground. Its very name speaks of the stature of those who are interred there—mga bayani (heroes). It would be a desecration of the memory of legitimate heroes to allow the interment in that place of one who committed unspeakable crimes against our people. It has been established that Marcos stole billions of dollars from the national treasury, money that could have mitigated hunger and poverty in our land.

There is a suggestion circulated in social media—for Marcos to be buried in the Libingan on condition that his tomb should bear the name “William Saunders,” the name he used in opening a secret bank account in Switzerland where he stashed his stolen wealth. This may sound good but the mere presence of his ashes there will still disrespect those of the genuine heroes.

And burying the dictator at the Libingan would be tantamount to condoning the brutality and oppression that martial law inflicted upon our country and people. It could signal a redemption for the Marcoses and enhance their continuing effort to achieve complete political resurrection. Their attempt to hoodwink our countrymen into accepting their atrocious claim that the martial law years under the dictator represented the golden age of our existence as a nation, must be stopped—and never allowed.

Never again!

—RAMON PEDROSA, TITUS MANUEL, RELI GERMAN, LUISA ANDAL, BUJIM AQUINO, LONG BELEN, LOURDES BELEN, CHITO DE VERA, WILO LAYUG, ELSA LUCAS, MILDRED JUAN, JOHNNY PENA, SITO SANTILLAN, JUN VICENCIO, OLIVE VICENCIO, August Twenty-One Movement