No to Hero's Burial for Marcos

When Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by People Power in 1986, Filipinos rendered a supreme and final judgment on him.

- Marcos was a dictator who ruled ruthlessly. He was responsible for the deaths and suffering of thousands of people.

- Marcos was a kleptocrat who stole from the people and left a legacy of indebtedness, poverty and corrupted institutions.

- Marcos was a fake war hero whose shame should be confined only to him and those who embrace him.

With this verdict, there is no way for the people to allow Marcos to be buried with honor anywhere in the Philippines. To do so would not only be to accede to the vanity of the Marcoses in disregard and contempt of the pain of those who suffered under him. It would also contravene the validity and correctness of the 1986 People Power Uprising which no single person or arm of government has a right to do.

Giving Marcos even a muted military honor will also signal to other aspiring autocrats and despots not to fear history as people can get to be forgetful and history can be tweaked and twisted. Marcos turned the military against the people and used it as his main instrument for his iron hand rule. To allow the military to honor him despite this is to concede that the people have not completely gotten their military back .

In this light, the “win-win” proposal by Vice President Jejomar Binay to allow the burial of Marcos in his hometown with military honors should be flatly rejected. It may be a win-win for the Marcoses and the Vice President. But the Filipino People will clearly be the losers.

The Marcoses have really no option but to simply give their man a solemn private burial if they want to give him a decent burial at all. (If they want, they can even invite Vice President Binay as their special guest). They should be made to understand however that there is no point in time they can wait for when self respecting Filipinos who value truth, fairness and justice will relent to give in to their illogical and unacceptable demand.

On the other hand, the government’s response to the Marcoses after saying no should be to intensify and speed up all legal processes in pursuit of getting justice for all the Marcos victims.

It is not the burial of Marcos that will heal our nation but justice for our people he oppressed.