It isn’t clear yet how the Supreme Court will rule on the Marcos burial, but the second day of oral arguments on whether the dictator’s remains can be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani gave the watching public another reminder of the historical absurdity at the center of the idea.
To evade the (inevitable and entirely appropriate) criticism that to bury Ferdinand Edralin Marcos in public ground named the cemetery of heroes is in fact to treat him like a hero, the Duterte administration has argued that the man who ruled the Philippines during the martial law era would be buried not as a hero but simply as a former soldier and a former president.
During Wednesday’s oral arguments, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen queried Solicitor General Jose Calida: “You take the position that the intention of the government is not to honor the body of Ferdinand Marcos as the body of a hero, although the Libingan’s name is Libingan ng mga Bayani. So, how can you explain that?”
It is fair to say that Calida’s answers were tied up in logical knots. “As I said, your honor, in my opening statement, that is not the purpose, to bury him as a hero. But by military standards, your honor, former president Marcos fits into the definition of a hero.”
Leonen’s follow-up was immediate: “Wait, excuse me, counsel, a while ago … you said that there was no intention to honor … that there was no intention to bury him, the president, as a hero.”
Calida replied: “Yes, and we stand by that, your honor. However, based on the military [criteria] given to a Medal of Valor awardee, he fits into the definition which was proposed by petitioner [Rep. Edcel] Lagman, your honor.”
The exchange then took an interesting turn; Leonen asked Calida repeatedly whether a Medal of Valor awardee was by definition a hero. The government’s chief lawyer finally said that based on Presidential Decree No. 1687, a Medal of Valor awardee can be considered a hero. “Who issued the presidential decree?” Leonen asked. Calida must have known that he had walked into a trap of his own making, because he gave a nonresponsive answer. “This was issued March 24, 1980.”
It was Marcos, of course, who issued the decree. (He is the only one in our history to govern by “presidential decree.”) A dubious Medal of Valor awardee had imposed a law recognizing Medal of Valor awardees as heroes. Even more important, however, was that Calida had conceded Leonen’s point. “By the definition, your honor, he is a hero.” So you are going back on your original position? the justice asked. “But we will set that aside, your honor.”
Leonen’s retort was one for the books. “Which part of Marcos will you not bury as a Medal of Valor awardee, and which part will you bury? It’s the same person.”
Indeed it is. The administration’s legal argument is deceptive; it is based on the position that Marcos need not be a hero to be buried in the heroes’ cemetery, a facility administered by the military. At the same time, the administration acknowledges that, according to military standards, Marcos fits the definition of a hero he himself helped define.
Another exchange between Calida and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno deepens the sense of absurdity that threatens to overwhelm our recent history. To probe Calida’s argument that burying Marcos in the Libingan would not diminish the recognition the state has granted the many victims of martial rule, because “the victims have already been recognized under the law” in part through the payment of reparations, Sereno asked where the P10 billion set aside for the reparations came from. “I believe, your honor, it is part of the [Marcoses’] ill-gotten wealth.”
To which Sereno replied: “All right. So in other words, money that had been stolen from the Filipino people itself is going to be paid to the victims. Where is the reparation… where is the acknowledgement, where is the confession, where is the penalty on the part of the Marcoses?”
President Duterte’s campaign promise to the Marcos family that the dictator would be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is no penalty; instead, it is a reward that subverts our history.