by MLC | Aug 9, 2016 | News
By: Joseph Tristan Roxas
Source: GMA News
The closure sought by martial law victims cannot be achieved by allowing the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, former Bayan Muna party-list representative Satur Ocampo said Tuesday.
Ocampo, a victim of human rights violations during Martial Law, questioned the Marcos family’s push for a hero’s burial when they did not even apologize for the atrocities that happened under the dictatorship.
“Ang mga Marcoses, yung iniwanan niya na asawa niya at mga anak niya, hindi sila umaamin ng pagkakamali. Hindi sila nag-a-apologize kahit na lumalabas na yung mga records ng atrocities, pati yung plunder. Paano mo sasabihin na isasara yun issue na yan sa simpleng paglilibing?” Ocampo said in his interview on GMA News TV’s News To Go.
Ocampo said that while Marcos was a former president—one of the qualifications for an individual to be laid to rest at the hero’s cemetery—his burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani would have serious implications on the search for justice of victims of human rights violations under martial law.
“Ang patutol namin at ng maraming nagsalita tungkol diyan, hindi lang kaming biktima ng martial law atrocities, kung hindi ang buong bayan ang naghahanap ng katarungan,” Ocampo said.
Ocampo was also a political detainee during the martial law years. He was imprisoned for nine years on rebellion charges before he escaped in 1985.
Meanwhile, the former Bayan Muna party-list representative said one of the conditions of former President Fidel Ramos in allowing the return of Marcos’ corpse in 1993 was for his burial in his hometown of Ilocos Norte.
Ocampo added that the family started pushing for a hero’s burial for the elder Marcos only surfaced when his son and namesake, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., ran for the Senate in 2010.
“Naging issue noong 2010 lang ‘to ng pareho kami tumakbo ni Sen. Bongbong. Nag-propose siya noon sa isang press conference na tinutulan ko, harapan yan. Sabi ko I’m not speaking for myself, kung hindi sa maraming biktima at yung mamamayan mismo na naghahanap ng at least katiting man lang na pagpapaumahin na hindi nila ginagawa,” Ocampo said.
President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday that he was allowing Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng Bayani because he was a former soldier. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines has since disputed this assertion.
In response to the his orders, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has already ordered the Armed Forces to make the necessary preparations for the burial.
Various groups have opposed the hero’s burial of Marcos. They called on Duterte to reconsider his decision
by MLC | Aug 9, 2016 | News
Source: Rappler.com
Some 35 volumes of case records – around 17,238 pages of documentation that include the original complaint and the rulings of the Sandiganbayan’s First Division from the original December 17, 1991 filing – are delivered to the Supreme Court
IMELDA AND HER ART. Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda R. Marcos tears up during the one-year anniversary of Super Typhoon Yolanda in Leyte. EPA file photo
MANILA, Philippines – The government’s forfeiture petition against the Marcos family’s art collection was halted on Monday, August 8, following a request by lawyers from the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to have a partial summary judgment rendered that would help clear up questions on the ownership of the art pieces.
The Sandiganbayan was ordered to turn over the records for the government’s forfeiture case – Civil Case No. 0141 – to the Supreme Court. A letter dated July 5 was sent from the office of SC deputy clerk of court and Judicial Records Division chief Basilia T. Ringol to then-Sandiganbayan executive clerk of court Renato Bocar.
The letter cited a directive from the Office of Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno.
Thirty-five volumes of case records – some 17,238 pages of documentation that include the original complaint and the rulings of the Sandiganbayan’s First Division from the original December 17, 1991 filing – were delivered to the Supreme Court. Also delivered were 3 envelopes with exhibits submitted by the PCGG-OSG.
As a result of the turnover of records, the proceedings of the case have been deferred. This is despite the government’s motion from July 3, which sought that Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos waived her right to contest this forfeiture as she failed to file her opposition to the forfeiture even after being given the chance to comment on it.
On March 17, The Sandiganbayan previously gave Rep. Marcos and her children 30 days to file comments or oppositions. While the Marcos estate filed objections on April 15, Rep. Marcos requested two extensions. Despite these extensions, a comment was not filed as of July 3, which pushed government lawyers to ask the court to declare her as having waived her right.
The waiving of her right would include a presumption that deems she admitted the facts in the government motion.
The PCGG-OSG added the art collections being disputed are made up of paintings and art pieces collected over several years by Mrs. Marcos, the total cost of which (more than 30 years earlier) was placed at around $24 million.
The PCGG-OSG added the collection should be confiscated and handed to the government as part of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth. This is based on a Supreme Court declaration in which it noted the combined incomes of the Marcos couple from 1966 to 1986 only amounted to around $304,372.43.
The PCGG said there were three lists of artworks the government is attempting to retrieve.
The first is made up of 152 paintings with an estimated value of $11.84 million. The second has 27 paintings and sculptures reportedly found at the sequestered Metropolitan Museum of Manila and is assessed at $548,445.48. Finally, there is also the Grandma Moses collection of 12 paintings by Amercian artist Anna Mary “Grandma Moses” Robertson, which is said to have been purchased for $372,000.
by MLC | Aug 9, 2016 | News
By Joseph Tristan Reyes
Source: GMA News
Martial Law victims continue to press President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider his decision to allow the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNBM) in Taguig City.
Martial Law victims on Tuesday, August 9, 2016, join forces at a press conference in Quezon City to oppose President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive allowing hero’s burial for the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Joseph Tristan Roxas
Boy Nuera of Pandayan claimed that he fought against the Marcos regime alongside Duterte’s mother, Soledad Duterte, or “Nanay Suling.”
He urged Duterte to reflect on whether his own mother would be proud of him for granting the hero’s burial to a ruler she strongly opposed.
“I was with the mother of President Duterte – Nanay Suling Duterte. We marched side-by-side protesting against the Martial Law. She was very vocal against the Marcoses. Mr. President hindi ko lang alam kung papayagan ng nanay mo ang pagpapalibing ng diktador na siya mismo nagpoprotesta laban dito,” Nuera said.
“How come the son of Nanay Suling would allow the burial of the dictator?” Nuera asked during a press conference on Tuesday.
No compromise
Meanwhile, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said he cannot compromise on the issue of the burial of Marcos at LNBM.
Lagman said he is willing to bring the case before the Supreme Court to stop Duterte from granting a hero’s burial to Marcos.
“Aside from staging a protest, we will study the possibility of going to the Supreme Court. There is no compromise in this issue. He could stay forever in the air-conditioned crypt or he could be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani,” Lagman said.
He added that the decision “to give Marcos a hero’s burial is not cast in stone,” citing the change in preference of Duterte on the mode of amending the Charter from a constitutional convention to a constituent assembly.
“He [Marcos] is not a bayani. He is a villain. He is a tyrant,” Lagman said.
‘Buti pa si Marcos may bangkay’
Meanwhile, Susan Quimpo of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation said, “Buti pa nga si Marcos may bangkay. Marami sa amin walang bangkay. We can’t even mourn our dead. All we have is the Wall of Remembrance.”
Quimpo also decried accusations that the documented accounts of injustice of Martial Law victims were merely propaganda.
She said it entails a lot of paper work for a victim or his family to be officially recognized as Martial Law victims.
“Death certificate, birth certificate, school and military records, human rights reports required to apply for reparation… Why do victims and families have to always carry burden of proof?” she said.
“We cannot move on without due justice and the apology. Papaano ka magkakaroon ng peace and reconciliation kung si [Sen.] Bongbong Marcos ni ayaw mag-apologize?” Quimpo echoed.
Meanwhile, Boni Ilagan of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA), said he is pleading to Duterte to reconsider his decision allowing hero’s burial for Marcos.
“If we bury the dictator in Libingan, we are sending a signal sa buong daigdig that in the Philippines, crime pays. Again Mr. President, we cannot move on if we start from a history that has been turned upside down,” Ilagan said.
Ilagan claimed that the Marcos regime decimated the “cream of the crop” of his generation.
He added that Marcos is disqualified to be buried at LNBM because he was “dishonorably discharged,” not just by any court, but by the Filipino people during the 1986 EDSA People Power.
“Bilang sundalo, si Marcos was dishonourably discharged not by any court, but by the Filipino people when he was ousted in 1986. Yan po ay nasa regulasyon ng AFP sa pagpapalibing sa libingang yan. Kapag dishonourably discharged hindi puwede, disqualified,” Ilagan said.
Another ground for disqualification for a hero’s burial, according to Ilagan, are the heinous crimes committed during the term of Marcos who ruled the country from 1965 to 1986.
Right to freedom
Attorney Suyan Villanueva of Duyan ng Magiting, for her part, said, “Ilang dekada bago siya napatalsik at bumalik ang ating demokratikong institusyon. Ang laban na yun was one by so much sacrifice. Ang laban na ito is really about protecting and defending history, it’s also about asking for justice,” she said at the sidelines of the conference.
“Hustisya po ito para sa lahat na namatay, napahirapan sa panahon ng diktadura. Dahil sa kanilang paghihirap at sakripisyo, it is our moral imperative to continue ang pinaglaban nila,” Villanueva added.
by MLC | Aug 8, 2016 | News
Source: GMA News
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte not to allow the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
NHCP chairperson Maria Serena Diokno told Unang Balita in an interview on Monday that as early as July 12, they sent the result of their review of facts on claims about Marcos’ being a wartime hero.
The paper is titled “Why Ferdinand E. Marcos Should Not Be Buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.”
“Doon po makikita na ang mga sinasabing medalya na natanggap — Distinguished Service Cross, Order of the Purple Heart, Silver Star — ay hindi pala niya (Marcos) natanggap,” Diokno said.
She added that the guerilla unit, Ang Maharlika, that Marcos supposedly had formed during the Japanese occupation, is not distinguished by the United States.
“Sa kasaysayan kasi kapag may claim o posisyon na napatunayang hindi totoo, iyon po ay hindi tinatanggap. Hindi siya fact,” Diokno said.
Diokno explained that the NHCP initiated the review, through primary sources including historical archives and historians, based on Duterte’s that Marcos should be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because the late strongman “was a Filipino soldier, period.”
Aside from the medals and the guerilla unit, the review also cast doubt on claims that Marcos “spent the first day of 1942 ‘by ambushing a company of Japanese cyclists’ killing 40 and turning back the rest.”
The claim adds that after the massacre, Marcos took a “samurai sword” that Gen. Douglas McArthur later presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The claim however could not be proven because the “recording of the event on British Pathe, a newsreel archive founded in 1910 containing 85,000 films from 1896 to 1976, however, makes no mention of the origin of the sword.”
She said that it was her duty as NHCP chairperson to order a review and make a recommendation to Duterte following his statements regarding the hero’s burial for Marcos.
Diokno reiterated that Marcos could not be given such a recognition because his claims are doubtful and has not been proven.
“Hindi tamang magbigay ng ganoong klaseng recognition sa isang taong may maraming hindi totoo sa kanyang sinabi at marami rin duda,” she added.
The NHCP said in the study that “grave doubts expressed in the military records about Mr. Marcos’s actions and character as a soldier do not provide sound, unassailable basis for the recognition of a soldier who deserves to be buried at the LNMB.”
“On these grounds, coupled with Mr. Marcos’s lies about his medals, the [NHCP] opposes the plan to bury Mr. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” the study concluded.
The Department of National Defense has sent a written memorandum to Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya to undertake preparations for Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
This comes after reports that Marcos will be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City on September 18.
Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had said that the hero’s burial is still in the planning stages.
He declined to disclose their planned date of the burial.
by MLC | Aug 7, 2016 | News
By Joseph Tristan Roxas
Source: GMA News
President Rodrigo Duterte early on Sunday reiterated his reasons for allowing late strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani amid opposition from several groups.
In Davao City, while visiting the wake of soldiers killed in clash with communist insurgents, the President said the late strongman is qualified for burial at the heroes’ cemetery in Taguig City being a soldier and former president.
“I will allow Marcos to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He was a soldier. He was there to fight for his country,” he said, and that he will let the Marcos family decide on when to bury their dead.
A report from the Philippine Star said the family decided to bury Marcos on September 18 after he gave the go signal.
Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. clarified Saturday that the burial of his father is still in the “planning stage.”
Duterte said last May that he will fulfill his campaign promise of allowing Marcos’ burial at the Libingan.
The younger Marcos even met Duterte in Davao City about a month after winning the presidential elections.
Since his death in 1989, Marcos’ remains has been lying in his hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte which is open to the public to see.
Various groups expressed opposition to Duterte’s pronouncement and appealed to the president to reconsider his position.
by MLC | Aug 6, 2016 | News
Source: Rappler.com
(UPDATED) The transfer of the strongman’s remains to the Libingan ng mga Bayani will reportedly take place a week after his 99th birth anniversary. Malacañang says this has yet to be ‘formally discussed.’
Former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. File photo by AFP
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The late strongman Ferdinand Marcos is set to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) on September 18, according to a news report.
The Philippine Star on Saturday, August 6, quoted the dictator’s son, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, as saying that President Rodrigo Duterte has “given the go-signal” for his father’s burial at the Libingan after a meeting with him earlier this week.
Marcos Jr added that his family is already coordinating with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which has jurisdiction over the cemetery.
Palace officials, however, were mum about the event. Asked to confirm it on Saturday, both Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella and Palace Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said they have not heard discussions on the matter.
“Wala po tayong update regarding that….Wala pa pong napag-uusapan patungkol diyan (We have no update regarding that….Nothing has been discussed regarding that),” Abella said in an interview on state-run Radyo ng Bayan on Saturday.
He declined to confirm the September 18 burial date, saying that this “has not been formally discussed,” apparently referring to the Duterte Cabinet.
Among Duterte’s Cabinet officials, at least one is vocally opposed to the plan, Vice President Leni Robredo.
The transfer of the remains of the 10th Philippine president – from a mausoleum in Ilocos Norte, Marcos’ home province – will reportedly take place on September 18, a week after his 99th birth anniversary, said Marcos Jr.
The Heroes’ Cemetery is the designated resting place for Filipino soldiers, war veterans, and citizens considered as heroes and martyrs.
There are, however, exceptions to who can be buried there, under guidelines set by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Those who have been dishonorably discharged from service, or personnel convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, do not qualify for interment at the cemetery. (READ: Who can be buried at Heroes’ Cemetery? AFP explains rules)
In a historic case against the Marcoses, a Hawaii jury awarded $2 billion to nearly 10,000 human rights victims of the Marcos regime in 1995.
The elder Marcos’ burial at the Libingan has divided the country, facing strong opposition from the families of martial law victims.
Youth groups last month also staged a protest at the University of the Philippines against the planned burial. In May, relatives of those buried at the Libingan are even considering moving their loved ones out of the cemetery.
However, Duterte has supported Marcos’ burial at Libingan, saying that it would initiate “healing” among the Filipino people.
In May, Duterte argued that Marcos is qualified to be buried in the Heroes’ Cemetery “because he was a Filipino soldier, period.” Marcos Sr projected himself as a World War II hero but his “fake medals” were the subject of investigative reports here and abroad, as well as research by concerned Filipinos. – Rappler.com
