Should former president Ferdinand Marcos be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani?
President Digong Duterte seems to have made up his mind. During the campaign, he said he would do this. Recently, he said he would die with the decision. He wants to lay the former dictator’s body alongside the great men and women of this country. After all, there is no denying that FM became a president and for Duterte, this is enough reason for his position.
Again, the country is divided. A lot of people support Digong on this. To them, the President can do no wrong. Just check the comments on social media and one will realize that the President’s supporters do not need any explanation. Digong’s word is already good for them. This is how popular he is. The very high trust level is perhaps matched only by that enjoyed by former President Corazon Aquino right after Marcos was removed from Malacañang.
Of course the pro-Marcos sides are also with the President on this issue. However, for them, this is not about Digong. They believe that FM was a good president, and thus, deserves to be called “bayani.” Included in this group are the young people who were convinced by the pro-Marcos propaganda unleashed during the last electoral campaign.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence are the victims of the martial Law era and their families, those who lived through the horrors of the dictatorship with limited freedoms, activists and human rights advocates, those who went to Edsa 1 to topple the dictatorship, professionals, and much of the academe. They oppose Marcos’ burial in the LNMB because of the late dictator’s suppression and violation of human rights, the unparalleled level of corruption and abuse of power that bled the country dry, and, the abduction, imprisonment, torture and death of thousands of activists and political opponents who opposed martial law. Understandably, Marcos was not, and will never be a hero to them and, therefore, cannot, and should not be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
I was in second year high school when martial law was declared. Perhaps I was too young to understand what ML was about. In my public high school, our lives went on as usual. I constantly heard (and sang to the tune of) Bagong Lipunan, and the propaganda line “Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan.” I knew that people were not allowed to be out on the streets after midnight or during curfew hours (the reason stay-in parties were invented), but generally life was as it has always been.
At times I would catch my older relatives talking about certain politicians getting arrested but I had no idea how serious things were. My “political awakening” started happening as a student in UP. Still, I came in a few years after the “First Quarter Storm.” In UP, I heard about students disappearing—either abducted by the military, or they went underground. I started seeing rallies as I was not yet an activist then. Slowly, I learned about national issues. Still, I had things to do.
I became an activist late. My political education took many years. Then came Edsa 1. The Filipino people successfully and peacefully defeated the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and formal democracy was restored. Many of us thought things would be a lot better after FM was gone. We went back to our private lives.
Our understanding of what we needed to do as a people to make democracy really work for the ordinary Filipino was shallow. We left almost everything to government, to politicians, thinking that they would magically turn the country around. We thought that since we won in Edsa, a dictatorship, or martial law could not threaten us again. And now, we are finding out that we missed a golden opportunity —the opportunity to instill in our people, especially the generations after the 1986 “people power revolt,” the beauty and importance of democracy, of human rights.
Collectively as a people, we failed, and failed miserably, to recognize that Edsa 1 was not the end, but the beginning. It should have started the long process, (just like my political education) to make the youth—those who knew nothing about the evils of the Marcos dictatorship, appreciate and protect the human rights that they enjoy and seemingly take for granted.
Post-Edsa 1 administrations have failed to make ordinary people’s lives better. Up until the last administration, the much-taunted economic growth benefitted only the upper class. Poor Filipinos remained poor, or became even poorer, and lives are more miserable because of problems of horrendous traffic, criminality, and the general feeling of insecurity.
Past administrations failed to make people feel that life after the dictatorship was better.
Really, we should not be surprised that many of our people now do not show interest, or even side with President Duterte on the issue of Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
We cannot blame our young people for being ignorant about the evils of the dictatorship. Ignorance is a function of miseducation.
We cannot just talk down to those who say that quality of life under Martial Law was better. Remember that government failed to help improve ordinary Filipinos’ lives.
The Marcos burial issue is not about being pro- or anti-Duterte. This is about the defense of democracy and human rights. Marcos in the LNMB is a most serious affront to the Filipino people’s struggle against dictatorship. It will obliterate our history that celebrates democracy and human rights. It will destroy Edsa 1’s significance in our national life.
We should be able to learn from our collective failure. We cannot allow Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator, to be treated as a hero. As a democratic and freedom loving people, we must stand up against this and use the issue to begin the arduous task of educating our people, especially our youth.
We need to strongly assert that we shall never again lose our freedoms and rights. Start by saying, “Marcos is not a hero. He should not be at the heroes’ pantheonl.”
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