Senator Risa Hontiveros said that the Supreme Court “miserably failed the test of history,” adding that they broke our hearts.
“The Supreme Court has miserably failed the test of history and broken our hearts. By allowing the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, the high tribunal has failed to protect the truth from the Marcoses’ fictional universe,” Hontiveros said in her official statement about SC’s decision on Marcos’ burial.
Slamming the High Court’s decision, Hontiveros said that the 9-5 decision “intends to effectively wipe the Marcos slate clean and negate the sacrifices of the thousands of brave souls who fought and suffered under the brutal Marcos dictatorship.” She added that it also contravenes the foundation on which the 1987 constitution was made – “to reject martial law.”
Hontiveros also considered the decision as undermining the Human Rights Victims and Reparation Act of 2013, which aimed to provide reparation to the Martial Law victims and to recognize the abuses during the Marcos regime.
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But the senator said that the SC’s ruling is not executory since President Rodrigo Duterte still has the final say on Marcos’ burial at the Libingan.
“I call on the President to respond to the challenge of history and reject with finality all plans to give Marcos a hero’s burial. I ask him to rise above his indebtedness and loyalty to the Marcos family. If at all that he received money from the Marcoses for his Presidential bid, President Duterte has no right to return such favors with the history and the dignity of the Filipino people,” Hontiveros said.
Duterte has to choose well at this point in history, according to Hontiveros.
“President Duterte is at a critical juncture in history. He could either stand up for truth and justice or submit himself as an instrument to the dictator family’s desperate attempt to rewrite history and clear their name. I urge the President to choose well,” she wrote.
Addressing her fellow senators, Hontiveros urged them to sign Senate Resolution No. 86, which prevents a hero’s burial for Marcos.
“At a time when truth and history are threatened, the Senate must make a brave stand,” she added.
To the people, Hontiveros urged everyone to fight and stop history from being rewritten.
“Lastly, I call on the people — especially our millennials — to fight to make sure their own history is not rewritten for them. Let us not forget George Santayana’s warning: “those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” Hontiveros said.
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The senator said no matter where Marcos’ remains is buried or what his tombstone says, it does not change the fact that “Marcos was not a hero.”
“No tombstone, no grandiose cemetery can change the fact that Marcos was not a hero. He was a plunderer, torturer and a thief with a family seeking to rewrite history to serve their interests. It is our duty to stand against this travesty and say–never again. Only then can we look back to the past with pride, and to the future with hope. Let us not fail the test of history,” Hontiveros said.
Source: (facebook.com)
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