Like a thief in the night, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos has been surreptitiously buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The difference is, President Rodrigo Duterte himself, and the Supreme Court made this possible.
This is betrayal of the highest order of the Filipino people.
While everyone was following the return of suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa to the country because of concerns that he might suffer the same fate as his father, the Marcoses, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as well as the Philippine National Police were already doing the final preparations for Marcos’ burial. There is every reason to believe that Kerwin Espinosa was a smokescreen. It was a devious plan.
Everyone was caught unaware. People were under the impression that the Supreme Court’s decision was not yet executory as the petitioners against the burial still had time to file their Motion for Reconsideration (MR) with the SC. Then it happened. The Filipino people were again betrayed.
At first Malacañang was denying that the President knew about what was going to happen. However, this is unbelievable since the AFP and the PNP were involved. The personnel and helicopters used even by the Marcos family all belong to government. The event was obviously very well-planned, orchestrated, and executed up to the last detail. There is no way that the Commander-in-Chief was not informed about this. As later said by a PNP official, President Duterte was fully informed of what would transpire. Again, the President’s spokespersons tried to mislead the people.
It should be noted that before the secret day of the burial, President Duterte has issued some sort of warnings. Though the context he cited was different, he said that he might be “forced” to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus, and worse, declare Martial Law. On hindsight, perhaps his intent was to warn people against reacting strongly against what was going to happen.
The Marcoses and Mr. Duterte took a common line—that the burial should be a form of closure on the tumultuous Martial Law era and atrocities committed by the former dictator. They both said that it is time to move on.
However, the opposite may be happening. As of this writing, various protests are happening and social media has exploded with netizens venting anger at the Marcoses, Duterte, and the SC. Instead of a closure, wounds because of the dictatorship’s abuses are reopened. People are taking to the streets again.
This is not going to be a closure. This betrayal is the beginning of a renewed struggle to protect the democracy that Filipinos fought for, and thousands, died for. I suspect that this is going to be another long struggle. According to a friend, it is possible that the Marcos burial at the LNMB could just be a part of a bigger, more sinister plan.
What if the whole plan is, to make Duterte president, bury FM in the LNMB, and have Ferdinand Marcos Jr. win his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo? Then it is going to be a Duterte-Marcos administration. Bongbong Marcos will just be one step away from the presidency. What if after declaring BBM as the president, Duterte resigns? This will make BBM the president.
Or, what if Duterte declares Martial Law and even without winning his electoral protest, BBM is assigned to an important post and VP Robredo is put in the freezer?
Some people may say that this is outrageous, that those who think that these can happen are hallucinating. I agree that this may sound unbelievable. However, at this point, after the first several months of the Duterte presidency, can we really discount these things from happening?
At this point also, we need to take Duterte’s pronouncements seriously. It appears that he does not say things without any purpose. There have been some disturbing statements from him. Let us not forget that from the get-go Duterte has declared his loyalty to the Marcoses. Remember his trip where both Imee and BBM were present? He introduced Marcos Jr. as the possible Vice President. He repeated this a few more times. Is Duterte warning us that this is part of his and the Marcoses’ grand plan?
It will also be recalled that the president has repeatedly said that he is willing to resign. Although again, the contexts were different when he said this, one cannot totally discount the possibility that there is truth to his willingness to resign. If Bongbong Marcos wins his electoral challenge against Robredo and gets declared as VP, is it far-fetched to think that Duterte will give way?
Truly, I hope that these things will not come to pass. And the way to prevent these from happening is for the spirit of people power to be kept burning.
Some say that one reason why the dictator’s LMNB burial happened was because we, the people were not keeping a close watch. We let our guards down. We cannot do this again. We should be very vigilant.
The Supreme Court where BBM’s electoral protest is lodged should be closely monitored and pressure should be kept up. Our Justices have the responsibility to be JUST. The president and his men should know that the people will strongly protest moves to further thwart our democratic gains. We must make our voices heard. It is our constitutionally guaranteed right to peacefully assemble for political redress.
Most importantly, we must educate our young people and those in communities of the importance of democracy and protecting our rights. We cannot be remiss in this.
There is so much to do. The struggle is on to prevent the continuing betrayal of our people.
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