Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Saturday apologized for the “unexpected” incidents during Martial Law.
“Iyong tungkol sa apology, sabi ko nga nanghihingi na ako ng patawad sa lahat ng nasaktan sa mga hindi inaasahang mga pangyayari dahil kailanman hindi ninais na may masaktan,” the governor said.
The governor clarified that their family does not deny that there were abuses during Martial Law.
“Wala namang sinasabi na walang kasalanan. Eh talaga namang inaamin nating lahat,” she said.
The governor made the statement in reaction to the statement of former President Fidel Ramos that the Marcos family owes the country an apology for the abuses committed during Martial Law.
“Address [the apology] to all the descendants of the victims, whether or not there is an investigation, to show sincere desire to discard, reject and eliminate already all the dictatorial tendencies and happenings during that period,” Ramos said during an interview with GMA News’ Sandra Aguinaldo.
The Supreme Court voted 9-5 last week, allowing the burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Ramos cited during the interview the part of the SC’s decision where the tribunal said it disagrees with the petitioners’ claim that Marcos was “dishonorably discharged” through the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.
“Kung kakalimutan ‘yun o iismolin o binabalewala ‘yan (EDSA People Power Revolution), para mong binabalewala ‘yung paghihirap, pagsisikap, kontribusyon ng mga sundalo at mga pulis kagaya namin,” he said.
Marcos’ remains were returned to the country from Hawaii after the late dictator’s family entered into an agreement with Ramos in 1992.
Ramos had said that based on the agreement, Marcos’ body will be allowed to be brought back to the country under certain conditions:
It is flown straight to Paoay
He would be given honors befitting a major in the AFP because that was his last rank
He would not be allowed to be paraded in Metro Manila
The burial will have to be done in Ilocos Norte, there will be no burial in the LNMB
Gov. Marcos, meanwhile, claimed that it was Ramos who said her father should be buried at the heroes’ cemetery.
“Baka nakaligtaan lang niya (Ramos) na in fact, siya ang nagpalawak ng meaning na dapat mailibing sa Libingan ng mga Bayani,” she said.
Martial Law torture victim and former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Etta Rosales on Wednesday underscored the importance of putting on “historical record the truth” amid the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling allowing the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
This was after Rosales and other petitioners revealed that they may file a motion for reconsideration to overturn the decision of the high court.
“Wala naman kaming magagawa diyan. Hindi naman kami gumagamit ng pwersa, hindi naman kami gumagamit ng baril, hindi naman kami manlalaban para pumatay. Pero ang mahalaga dito, you put on historical record the truth,” Rosales, who was a human rights violation victim herself during the Marcos regime, said in an Unang Balita interview on Wednesday.
“Alam ninyo, ang pinakamahalaga, our Filipino today, hindi lang mga biktima ito e, and generations from now, meron silang karapatan sa katotohanan,” she added.
In her appearance during oral arguments on the petitions against the Libingan burial for Marcos, Rosales told SC justices how she was tortured during the time of the late strongman.
She recounted how she was sexually molested and subjected to various forms of torture such as electric shock, water cure and a Russian roulette routine, wherein a gun was pointed at her while she was undergoing interrogation.
Voting 9-5, the SC on Tuesday dismissed the consolidated petitions seeking to stop the burial of the late strongman at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, which is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Marcoses won’t admit guilt
Contrary to what Marcos loyalists are saying, Rosales believes that Marcos’ burial at the heroes’ cemetery would not create national healing.
“They keep on saying, let’s move on. Let’s heal na para magkaroon ng closure? Anong iko-closure mo? Sinong maghi-heal dito? Ang makikinabang lang dito ay ang pamilya ni Marcos. Pero ‘yung libo-libo na mga sinaktan, tinorture, na-disappear at sa ngayon ay himihingi ng katarungan sa pamamagitan ng batas na naipasa, ito ‘yung kinakailangan magkaroon ng closure at healing, kasi sila ‘yung sinaktan,” she said.
In a separate Unang Balita interview, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos said she was willing to apologize for the alleged crimes of her father, but not to the point of admitting guilt.
“’Yung tinatawag nilang apology, talaga naman para sa akin, kung sino man ang nasaktan na hindi naman ninanais at wala namang balak na masama, sa akin, kahit papaano, nagpapaumanhin ako,” Governor Marcos said.
“Pero ‘yung apology na ninanais nila, ‘yung admission ng guilt, eh parang may kabigatan naman yata ‘yun sa criminal law. Hindi naman yata kami papayagan ng abugado kapag ganyan,” she added.
The governor said she only wants the Filipino people to unite.
“Kung may pagkakamali, may kasalanan, siyempre wala namang perpekto sa mundong ito, talagang nagpapaumanhin ako para magkaisa na tayo,” she said.
“Kung nakakausap natin at nakikipag-negotiate tayo sa mga kapatid nating Muslim, kung nakikisuyo tayo sa mga kapatid nating CPP-NPA e siguro naman pwede ring pakiusapan din ang mga Ilocano at bahagi rin kami ng bandilang Pilipino. Kung may dilaw sa ating bandila, meron ding red, white and blue, e magkaisa tayo,” she added.
The governor said their family only wanted a “soldier’s burial” for her father. She also said that they do not want a state funeral for the Marcos patriarch.
Twisting history
Rosales said history is being twisted by the SC’s decision.
“Ang nangyayari ngayon, binabaluktot ang kasaysayan. Oras na ilibing natin si Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani, gagawin siyang symbolically bayani, because it is a cemetery of the heroes,” she said.
“Isipin na lang ninyo, hindi magtitiyaga na mag-antay ng 27 taon ang pamilya ni Marcos kung hindi malinaw sa kanila na ang agenda nila, kapag nilibing si Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani, gagawin siya sa symbol na bayani at mawawala sa kanya ang kanyang mga kasalanan sa bayan,” she added.
Amid these developments, Rosales urged the public to not forget the human rights violations during Martial Law.
“Kaya itong mga bagay na ito eh kabahagi ito ng katotohanan sa ating kasaysayan. Kaya ang lagi kong sinasabi, dapat kilalanin natin ang katotohanan at ang karapatan ng taumbayan na malaman ang katotohanan,” Rosales said.
Law deans on Wednesday weighed in on the Supreme Court (SC) decision allowing the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani which has divided the nation for years.
By a vote of 9 to 5 with one abstention, the SC ruled on Tuesday that Marcos deserved a spot in the military shrine since there is no law prohibiting the burial and that he was qualified to be interred there being a former president, statesman and war soldier.
Marcos, the Court said, was also not convicted by final judgment of any offense involving moral turpitude despite allegations he pilfered billions from the nation’s coffers and committed massive human rights violations.
For University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina, the high court’s ruling seems to be “justified.”
“I think it is justified because the SC decides based on what the law provides or does not provide and not on other considerations,” Divina said in a text message to GMA News Online.
Divina added the issue focused on whether there is a law that prohibits the burial and “the SC said there is none.”
He also disagreed with the view of anti-Marcos groups that the decision was a betrayal of the nation’s struggle against Marcos dictatorship, which was toppled by the People Power revolt in February 1986.
“The decision does not mean Marcos is a saint and that any previous infractions are deemed condoned,” Divina said.
Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, a dean of the San Beda Graduate School of Law, said the Court “was not enshrining Marcos in the pantheon of heroes.
“It was merely saying: ‘There is no legal obstacle to his burial there,'” Aquino said in a Facebook post.
Those who consider themselves victims of Martial Law have also not been deprived of any of their remedies under the law, unless their claims have prescribed, according to Aquino.
“A claim for damages may still be brought under the provisions of the Civil Code against the Marcos Estate,” he said.
The Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board (HRVCB) is currently vetting claims for compensation from Martial Law victims.
De La Salle University College of Law dean Jose Manuel Diokno said the SC’s clearance to the burial was “both a tragedy and a farce.”
“To me, personally, I think it is the internment of Mr. Marcos at the Libingan is really both a tragedy and a farce—a tragedy in a sense that they seem to forget the abuses and atrocities that happened at that time; and it’s a farce because of the mockery of the word ‘hero’ at the Libingan,” he said in a television interview.
He said a defeat for any possible motion for reconsideration that will be filed “shouldn’t silence those of us who know what really happened during that period of our history.”
Diokno is the son of the late Senator Jose W. Diokno, who was among the first imprisoned by the Marcos regime during Martial Law.
The decision has set off protests from victims of Marcos’ dictatorial rule even as his children appealed for closure and national reconciliation.
Even the SC believes the country must already forward from the issue, saying “there are certain things that are better left for history–not this Court–to judge.”
“Beyond that, it is ultimately for the people themselves, as the sovereign, to decide, a task that may require the better perspective that the passage of time provides. In the meantime, the country must move on and let this issue rest,” the high court said.
(UPDATED) By a vote of 9-5, the Supreme Court gives the go signal for former president Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Justices are expected to submit their opinions by Thursday, November 10.
JUBILANT. Loyalists celebrate as the Supreme Court on November 8 ruled in favor of allowing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Photo by LeAnne Jazul/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Former president Ferdinand Marcos can now be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery).
The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday, November 8, cleared all legal obstacles to a Marcos burial, for decades an issue that has driven a deep wedge in Philippine political life.
Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco Jr, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Jose Perez, Teresita de Castro, Jose Mendoza, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe voted in favor of giving Marcos a hero’s burial. (READ: Supreme Court: Marcos was not pure evil)
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, together with Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justices Marvic Leonen, Francis Jardeleza, and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa dissented. (READ: Marcos burial: What did the dissenting SC justices say?)
Reyes has not cited specific reasons for his recusement but it was he who administered the oath of President Rodrigo Duterte last June. He was Duterte’s fraternity brother at the San Beda College of Law and a former lawyer of the family of former president Benigno Aquino III.
The decision came as the SC’s extended status quo ante order – extended twice in the past – expires on Tuesday, November 8.
In a press briefing, SC Spokesperson Theodore Te announced some of the reasons cited by the justices for allowing the burial of Marcos:
There was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of President Duterte in ordering the burial of Marcos; there is no law that prohibits the burial of the former president Marcos
The President has the power to decide on the use of land within the public domain; there is no law that excludes the Libingan ng mga Bayani
Marcos was former commander-in-chief, former soldier and former secretary of national defense
Some justices disagreed with the position articulated by others that the former president was dishonorably discharged; this applies only to the military
On the issue of moral turpitude: Marcos has not been convicted by any final judgment and the cases cited were all civil in nature
The SC decision and final opinions of the justices were not released on Tuesday, November 8. The justices are expected to submit these on Thursday, November 10. The ponente of the SC decision denying the petitions was Justice Peralta.
On August 23, the High Court issued a status quo ante order (SQAO) on the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani until September 13. On September 8, it extended the order until October 18 and then held it further until November 8.
In August, Martial Law victims asked the Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that Marcos does not deserve a slot in the national shrine because burying him there violates Republic Act 289, which created the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Duterte took the position in early August that Marcos is qualified to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he is “a former soldier and former president of the Philippines.”
He had directed the defense department to begin preparations for a hero’s burial on September 18. That got sidetracked by the petitions filed by Martial Law victims with the Supreme Court.
The High Tribunal consolidated petitions against a hero’s burial. All in all, 6 petitions were lodged before the SC, opposing Duterte’s “verbal order” to the Department of National Defense to proceed with the preparation for a Marcos state burial. (READ: SC orals on Marcos burial: Issues and answers)
The defense department had said that Marcos is qualified for burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he was a soldier, a former war veteran, an ex-defense secretary, and a former president. (READ: Marcos ‘qualified’ for hero’s burial based on AFP rules)
VINDICATION. Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos joins supporters of her father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, in front of the Supreme Court in Manila. Photo by Ben Nabong/Rappler
Duterte made a last plea to the High Court at a news briefing on October 16, when he urged it not to decide on the basis of “emotion,” although he reiterated that he would abide by the High Court’s decision. –with reports from Patty Pasion/Rappler.com
The executive branch committed grave abuse of discretion when it ordered the military to prepare for the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said.
In her dissenting opinion, Sereno said honoring a dictator, plunderer and human rights violator as recognized by the legislative and judicial branches of government would be inconsistent with the original intention of the LNMB, a national shrine.
“For the Court to pretend that the present dispute is a simple question of the entitlement of a soldier to a military burial is to take a regrettably myopic view of the controversy,” Sereno said.
“It would be to disregard historical truths and legal principles that persist after death. As important, it would be to degrade the State’s duty to recognize the pain of countless victims of Marcos and Martial Law,” she added.
“Regardless of the promised national unity that the proposed burial will bring, I cannot, in good conscience, support such an expedient and shortsighted view of Philippine history,” Sereno said.
Sereno and four other justices dissented in the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the petitions filed by human rights advocates against Marcos’ burial at the LNMB.
Nine magistrates voted to dismiss the petitions. One did not participate in the deliberations.
“Respondents (government, Marcos family) may deny the implications of their actions today, but the symbolism of the burial will outlive even their most emphatic refutations,” Sereno said.
“Long after the clarifications made by this administration have been forgotten, the gravesite at the Libingan ng mga Bayani will remain,” she added.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, in his own dissenting opinion, said Marcos’ ouster from the presidency in February 1986 made the former leader ineligible for the burial at the LNMB.
He said Marcos’ removal after 20 years in power amounted to “the strongest form of dishonorable discharge from office since it is meted out by the direct act of the sovereign people.”
“We forget the lessons of the past when we allow abuse to hold sway over the lives of those who are unrelated to us. Silence, in the face of abuse, is complicity,” Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said in his dissenting opinion.
“The burial of Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is not an act of national healing. It is an effort to forget out collective shame, to bury our inaction for many years. It is to contribute to the impunity against human rights abuses and the plunder of our public trust,” he added.
Health workers, students and militants gather in fornt of the Philippine General Hospital in Manila to protest the Marcos burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18, 2016
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday said the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) will not erase the human rights violations of the Martial Law era.
CHR chairman Chito Gascon said the Supreme Court decision to allow a hero’s burial for Marcos does not undermine their call for justice.
“This decision will not erase the uncontroverted fact of impunity for human rights violations committed during Martial Law that demands justice,” Gascon said.
Gascon said the CRH stood before the SC to counter the Duterte administration’s pronouncement that the former dictator deserves a hero’s burial as a former president and former soldier.
He added that the CHR presented human rights considerations in both the Constitution and international law in arguing for the petitions against the hero’s burial.
“The CHR took a position before the Supreme Court that the Human Rights considerations in both Constitution & International Law runs counter to the Duterte Administration’s intention to bury the former dictator at LnB, particularly the guarantees for reparation & against non-repetition of Human Rights Violations,” Gascon said.
Burial won’t make Marcos hero
Petitioners had argued that Marcos was no hero, citing his dubious record as a war soldier and massive human rights violations and corruption that tainted his 20-year rule.
They also said that the Libingan burial violates the law giving compensation to Martial Law victims and the 1992 agreement between former President Fidel Ramos and the Marcos family to allow the return of the former president’s body to the Philippines, but only to have it buried in his home province of Ilocos Norte.
The government, however, said there is no law prohibiting Marcos from being buried at the LNMB, a cemetery reserved for soldiers, former presidents, national artists and statesmen, and that it is within Duterte’s power and prerogative to allow the burial.
“The interment of the remains of former President Marcos does not and will not make him a hero,” the Office of Solicitor General (OSG) said in its comment submitted to the high court.
“On the contrary, the interment of his remains at the Libingan was due to the fact that the late Ferdinand Marcos was a former President of the Republic, statesman and soldier, whose remains may be and are to be interred at the Libingan.”
A World War II veteran, Marcos was also neither dishonorably discharged nor convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude despite his ouster from office through a People Power revolt in 1986, according to the government.
The government also said the petitioners’ claims for compensation as human rights victims are “distinct and separate from, and cannot in any way be connected to, the intended burial” because the process of vetting their claims under Republic Act 10368 is still ongoing.
The government also said the burial will promote national healing and closure to one of the most contentious chapters of the nation’s history, a belief shared by the Marcos family and their supporters who held an overnight vigil in front of the high court.
