Beyond burial, ‘a time for ultimate reckoning’

Certain groups are alarmed and wary.  They are diligent in exerting efforts (rain or shine) to block the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, allegedly because of various human rights violations committed during his presidency. It was argued that if we are to go by the burial place’s name, Marcos should not be interred in that hallowed ground—unless he is considered a hero.

But if the policy crafted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines indeed allows that soldiers and presidents may be laid to rest at the Libingan without qualifying whether they are heroes or not, since no record of heroic acts were required of them before burial (apparently, what only mattered is that they served the country in that official capacity), then Marcos cannot be disqualified.

Regrettably, not everyone agrees with such logic. Unless the 1987 uprising is tantamount to dishonorable act—“not-dying-with-one’s-boots-on” as a government official. While massive protests attempted to establish public discontent, it still does not confirm the guilt of the accused. Marcos, however, was not convicted of any crime, though he was deposed by a popular revolt some three decades ago. Under any law, a person remains innocent unless proven otherwise.

Perhaps part of our misfortune as a Filipino nation is our tolerant psyche. We seem to be habitually torn between magnanimity and idiocy, despite all the censure.

• Former president and now second-termer Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada was convicted of plunder and served his sentence for sometime until he was politically pardoned by then president and, now, likewise a second-termer representative, Gloria Arroyo. Her absolution of Estrada was practically ratified by the people when he ranked second among several candidates in the 2010 presidential election.
• The Filipino people have (unwittingly?) spoken: We have elected Rodrigo Duterte as president by an overwhelming 16 million votes or so. Have we forgotten that one of his campaign promises was to bury Marcos at the Libingan?

Marcos is long gone. To call him all sorts of vicious names is like kicking a dead horse. As a respondent/suspect, he cannot defend himself anymore. Ironically, no court of law is fit to judge the dead.

Should we not leave that task to our Creator? Of course, it could be twice more painful to supposed victims who could not assert themselves fully since then, till now.

We can empathize that everyone needs to arrive at a fair resolution, but could it be a louder wake-up call for us as a people?  It does not mean simply being oblivious of the past; but being more alert and more vigilant for more current issues that ought to be handled in the here and now, before it is rather too late. Otherwise, we will lose again and again by default. (And how come there was not any case ever won against Marcos?)

One may wonder why the sun keeps shining and the rains falling on both the good and the bad. Yet we can trust there will be divine justice in the end, a time of ultimate reckoning.

—ARMANDO LIBRANDO ALPAY, c/o [email protected]