SC burial decision, history repeating itself

We are too far gone to even consider moving on. Too many lives lost. Too many injuries borne. Too many lies spread. Impunity still reigns—day after day after day.

To offer the notion that the burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani will foster national healing is an insult. Not just to our dignity as a people, but to our history and our wisdom as well. This burial degrades the whole nation. It tears our society apart—wrenching our union away with the insinuation that some people are more equal than others. It devalues our heroes, joining them with someone who was their total opposite: one who plundered our coffers and abused our people. This pervasive inequity, so endemic in our fledgling institutions, so cancerous to our society, continues to haunt us to this day. It is outrageous to our struggle as a people for real liberty and a better democracy.

The Supreme Court’s decision to allow a dictator to be buried in the same place where our country’s heroes are is a sobering reminder—the latest in a long line of decisions that highlight the injustices of our current judiciary. One only needs to recall the likes of Erap, Enrile and Arroyo to see that this should NOT be a surprise to us.

We have a long way to go to correct the corrosive influence Marcos has had on our judiciary, whose effects we still see today. As crushing as this Supreme Court decision may be, may it remind us that the justices do not write our story as a people. It is still ours, and we are the final arbiter, and we shall mold our own heritage, and our own future. The shaping of history can never be left to a handful of individuals, but should be achieved by the many.

Words cannot express our disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision. It is history repeating itself—an unfortunate encore of its ominous decision set forth in Javellana vs Executive Secretary.

Marcos’ body may be buried, but the atrocities of his reign shall always be remembered, etched with blood in our own collective memories. Today, let us promise ourselves, for the sake of our fellow Filipinos who have fought, and are still fighting, for our freedom and democracy, that we will not forget.

We never will.

RUTH LUMIBAO, secretary general, UP National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers