PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said the Liberals who continue to oppose the burial of the late Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani were politicizing, and insisted that he will enforce the law on heroes’ burials.
Meanwhile, congressmen belonging to the minority remain optimistic the Supreme Court would eventually allow the burial.
Saying that he would no longer argue with those who oppose his decision to bury the late strongman in the cemetery for heroes, Duterte said that politics was the only thing that is blocking it.
“I will explain it to you once again. I am serious. This issue has divided the nation. Ilocanos who are Filipinos too resent the opposition to the burial. The Yellows [Liberals] like my late mother oppose it because of Martial Law issues,” he added.
“You’re crazy. I do not care. That’s what the law is telling. I’m a lawyer, and the law says president or a soldier. Now, you’re telling me that he’s not a hero. Who we are to say that? This is not the time of the Japanese Occupation. Who we are to dispute? To answer questions, there’s an official who gave him a medal. So why are you insisting that he’s not a hero?” Duterte asked.
The President said that even if the Marcos were not given medals for his war feats, he (Duterte) would still enforce the law.
House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez on Thursday expressed strong optimism that the SC at the proper time will allow former President Ferdinand Marcos to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.
Suarez saw as just a temporary setback the SC issuance of a 20-day status quo ante order (SQAO) stopping a hero’s burial for Marcos that was earlier set on Sept. 18, 2016 by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Closing this chapter in our history by burying the remains of former
President Marcos is in the best interest of the nation,” he added.
Suarez said he views the SC decision was a mere ploy to give the petitioners an opportunity to present their arguments.
“But this does not mean that the SC is against the burial at the moment, the decision was intended to give the complainants a chance to present their side as part of judicial process,” Suarez said.
Deputy Speaker and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro also dismissed the SC order “as just a part of the judicial process.”
“The SC in issuing a status quo ante order simply wanted the relationship of the parties stayed; it is not a decision or adjudication of the case on the merits but, simply, preserving the status unchanged,” Castro said. “The SC normally issues this kind of order to hear the arguments of the parties before deciding the case on the merits. It is part of due process.”
Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu said the public, like Duterte, should respect the SC decision.
Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe, president of the Party List
coalition (PLC), said the SC’s order is “a good respite from all the wrangling and heated debates brought about by a highly divisive issue like the Marcos burial.”
“Above all else, it is a shifts the blame for this controversy from the Duterte administration,” he said.
On Tuesday, the SC issued a SQAO that prevented the Duterte government for 20 days or until September 12 from proceeding with the burial of Marcos at the LNMB in Taguig City. The SC rescheduled to August 31 its oral argument on the six consolidated petitions against the burial.
