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Let Marcos rest, Rody tells protesters, NDF

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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte told thousands of anti-Marcos protesters who took the streets Wednesday to move on and let the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos get his final rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“Let Marcos rest, he’s already dead,” Duterte said in Cagayan de Oro City after visiting soldiers who had been wounded in action.

Protests against Duterte’s decision to allow Marcos to be buried in the hero’s cemetery has been met by angry protests around the country.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines said it would raise the issue when they return for a third round of peace talks with the government next year.

“We will definitely raise the issue in the third round of the talks because these are outright travesties of the memories of the true heroes during the Martial Law period,” former NDFP chairman Luis Jalandoni said in an interview.

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Jalandoni also said Duterte’s actions were in violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. 

FREE SPEECH. Flag-waving anti-Marcos protesters rally Wednesday at Mendiola Bridge protesting the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18 while (inset right) former Laguna Gov. Emilio Ramon Ejercito (middle) and hundreds of supporters flock to Mendiola too to support the Duterte administration to push for federalism as a form of government—with anti-riot police monitoring the groups. Lino Santos/Norman Cruz

On Wednesday, a second commissioner of the National Historical Commission resigned in protest over the Marcos burial.

Francis Gealogo, an associate professor of History at the University of the Philippines, said Wednesday he resigned a day after the dictator was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In a letter dated Nov. 19, Gealogo reiterated that the commission’s stance that Marcos faked his war records and committed various abuses in his 20-year rule as President, hence disqualifying him from getting a burial at the LNMB. He said this was “based on solid historical research” and that it was part of the mandate of the commission to clarify issues pertinent to historical questions that affect society. 

“I stand by the historical truth of the fact that the martyrs and victims of Martial Law should be the ones that we ought to recognize as the true heroes of our nation, and not the dictator who caused untold miseries and sufferings to our people,” he said. 

NHCP Chairwoman Maria Serena Diokno on Tuesday submitted her resignation to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and said it was a move toward the “right side of history.”

In a television interview, Diokno expressed disappointment that Duterte isn’t open to hearing a different point of view other than his own.

“You can’t blame us for trying—we did and we went through a study, well-documented, but it appears his mind had been made up early on,” Diokno said. 

Diokno had earlier submitted appeal letters to Duterte informing him about the “historical lies” committed by Marcos, particularly on his war records, which Duterte used to justify his decision to allow the burial.

“We went through the works and we sent him the study on July 12. No reply, no response,” she told ANC. 

After the Supreme Court came out with its decision in support of Duterte’s position, she said, she again wrote to Duterte but still received no reply.

“Nonetheless, I wrote the President an appeal, which I also made public, and I also received no reply,” she added.

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