escudero, marcos, libingan ng mga bayani

last year, september 22 2014, to be exact, senator chiz escudero urged president aquino to allow the burial of marcos in libingan ng mga bayani to heal the wounds of the past.

Escudero said the fact that Marcos was a former president and soldier cannot be denied and based on these two things alone, he deserves to be buried at the Libingan. 

“… sa ganang akin (nararapat ito) para matuldukan na natin… yung 40-year rebellion nga sa Mindanao matutuldukan na, apatnapung taon na yun. Ito magtatatlumpung taon na,” he said.

“Wala namang debate na naging head of state sya. Wala namang debate na sundalo siya. If only because of those two facts, siguro marapat na bigyan natin siya ng karampatang paglilibing dahil anuman ang reklamo, ano man ang diumano ay ginawa o hindi niya ginawa bilang pangulo, o ginawa o hindi ginawa bilang sundalo, nanatili pa ring tutuong naging head of state siya at naging dating sundalo siya,” Escudero said.

exactly a year later, the vp wanna-be alleges that some twisting of his statement(s) happened, even if i don’t see any twisting, just an attempt by the good senator to sort of elaborate on the matter, not to deny anything he said.

“Of course people have been twisting that statement to simply mean to bury him at Libingan ng mga Bayani. But what I actually said was that issue is 30 years old. Can we finally address or settle it one way or the other, and not simply ignore it, brush it aside, and sweep it under the rug?”

… “He must be given a final resting place, wherever that may be,” said Escudero. “Government should address it and government should decide on it, of course in consultation with the family.” 

seems to me that the good senator is barking up the wrong tree.  the government has always said no to a marcos burial in libingan ng mga bayani.  it’s the marcoses who refuse to bury the patriarch anywhere else.  it”s the marcoses who refuse to concede, insisting that their patriarch deserves nothing less than a hero’s burial.  who knows, maybe it was a dying wish, and maybe imelda and the kids are willing to wait as long as it takes for a president who will say yes.

i wonder what grace poe thinks.  may i suggest that the prez wanna-be read of the damage marcos inflicted on nation: alfred mccoy’s notes on the Dark Legacy: Human rights under the Marcos regime.  and ninotchka rosca’s The day Manila fell silent.  and susan quimpo’s I saw martial law up close and personal.  and leloy claudio in The Marcos years were not the PHL’s golden era.  and monica feria’s Sept 22-23: Our lives changed overnight.  and kris lanot lacaba’s The torture of my father and other stories.  for starters.