Vice President Leni Robredo deemed the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos as a move that would “keep the wounds of the past unhealed.”
This is contrary to the national healing and reconciliation that that the Marcoses and the Marcos loyalists wanted to achieve.
After the Supreme Court decided 9-5 in junking the petitions of the Martial Law victims to block Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City, Robredo said in her official statement that she felt deeply saddened by the court’s decision.
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Robredo also scored the Marcoses’ refusal to own up to their “atrocities” during their patriarch’s regime.
“We have consistently opposed the burial of the Martial Law dictator in the heroes’ sacred ground. Their family’s refusal to take responsibility for atrocities of the regime is an insult to the Filipino people,” she said.
While there might a legal basis for burying Marcos at the heroes’ cemetery, Robredo said that it is against the “morality” and the spirit of EDSA.
“It might pass the bar of legal technicality, but can never be consistent with morality and the spirit of the Filipino people power revolution,” she added.
Robredo emphasized that the country’s healing will only happen with the “acknowledgement of the truth and resolution of the past.”
“To bury Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani would keep the wounds of the past unhealed,” she concluded.
This is not the first time Robredo has spoken against the hero’s burial for Marcos.
On August 8, Robredo expressed her opposition against the plan to bury Marcos at the Libingan, saying that “Marcos is no hero.”
“We strongly oppose the decision to bury former President Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” she said in her official statement.
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She noted how Marcos’ “crimes and moral turpitude” made him undeserving to be buried at the sacred grounds.
“How can we allow a hero’s burial for a man who has plundered our country and was responsible for the death and disappearance of many Filipinos? Those who have greatly committed crimes and moral turpitude to the Filipino people cannot be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” she added.
And just like her most recent statement, Robredo said that giving the dictator a hero’s burial is far from uniting the country.
“This decision will not bring unity to our country; it will only deepen the unhealed wounds of the survivors and family members of victims of the terrible years under the Marcos presidency,” she said.
“Furthermore, his heirs continue to deny that these sins against our people happened. They continue to have no remorse and still prevent the return of the wealth that they stole,” she added.
Robredo also called on for Filipinos to teach their children about their ancestors’ heroism and sacrifice, concluding her statement with this: “And Mr. Marcos is no hero.”
Talks about burying Marcos at the Libingan started once more when President Rodrigo Duterte said during his campaign trail that he would allow it. And he made good on that promise.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Duterte announced on Wednesday afternoon, November 9, that he won’t change his mind about giving Marcos a hero’s burial.
