PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte says Corazon Aquino and her son Benigno Aquino III have only themselves to blame for failing to bar the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos from getting buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery.
He said he would not change his decision to have Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani unless he received a court order stopping him from doing so despite his detractors.
“It’s simple, he [was] a President and a soldier and on both counts,” Duterte told reporters Tuesday night.
“They [had] long been in power when Marcos was deposed. It [was] a long time coming. Why didn’t they fix these things?”
Duterte made his statement even as human rights activists on Wednesday denounced his statement that the issue on Marcos’ burial was merely a “fight between two families.”
“The Aquinos were not the only victims of Martial Law, nor are they the ones leading the condemnation of a hero’s burial for the late dictator,” said Sanlakas Secretary-General Lawyer Aaron Pedrosa.
“The President cannot simply reduce the issue to a clash of political clans, especially if he is aware of the injustices and crimes committed by the Marcos dictatorship.”
Pedrosa said under Marcos’ rule, 3,240 people were killed, more than 70,000 were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured and 254 disappeared.
“A hero’s burial for Marcos will not give closure to the families and the memory of those who were denied dignity and rights under his tyranny,” Pedrosa said.
“Nor will it absolve the present and future generations of the 26.7- billion dollar debt we will be paying as late as 2025, almost forty years after Marcos’ regime ended.”
Duterte asked: “After the fallen revolution, they should have passed laws disallowing or denying to the person already dead to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Why didn’t you pass a law telling us that this burial cannot take place at the Libingan?”
Duterte insisted he was merely following the law.
“It’s basically a [fight] between the two families. We just got involved,” he said.