Philippines: bishops denounce a hero’s burial for Marcos

(Vatican Radio) Philippine Catholic bishops have joined several dissenting voices denouncing a Supreme court decision allowing a hero's burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"It mocks our fight to restore democracy. I am puzzled and hurt, and in great grief," said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, president of the Philippine bishops' conference.

The prelate, a protege of the late Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila who helped oust Marcos through the so-called "People Power Revolution" of 1986, said he was "very sad" with the court decision.

The highest court in the Philippines ruled on Tuesday, that former president Ferdinand Marcos will be granted a “hero’s burial”, ending a nearly three-decade fight by those who regard him as a human rights abuser and kleptocrat. The supreme court said it had cleared all legal obstacles and petitions filed against moving his remains to the Libingan ng mga Bayani, or Heroes’ Cemetery, in Manila.

The judges voted nine to five, rejecting six petitions. Its ruling ended a deeply emotional public argument between tens of thousands who suffered violence and oppression under his tenure and those who reminisce about the years of iron-fisted rule.

Marcos had put the country under martial law for years, in effect giving him autocratic powers for the majority of his time in office. He closed media outlets, banned people from gathering and imposed curfews. Critics were rounded up, arrested and tortured.

After millions took to the streets in a “People Power” revolution in 1986, Marcos and his family fled to the US. He was accused of vast rights abuses and stealing $10bn (£8bn) from state coffers. He died three years later (1989) in Hawaii. Presently, the body of the late dictator lies in a glass coffin at a mausoleum in his hometown province of Ilocos Norte.

But the family have since made a political comeback. Ferdinand Marcos Jr, 58, came second in the vice-presidential elections this year. He welcomed the ruling on Tuesday, saying it was an important step in the national healing and reconciliation process.

President Rodrigo Duterte, a close friend of Marcos' son Ferdinand Jr., earlier said the late president should be interred at the cemetery because the issue has long divided the country.

"I will allow the burial of [Marcos] … not because he is a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier," Duterte said even before he became president in May.

The proposed move was opposed by all quarters of society. Franciscan Father Robert Reyes led a protest run in Manila in July against a plan for Marcos to be interred in a cemetery for heroes in Manila. Known for his penchant to run for a cause, Reyes said Filipinos should "rise up, come out, and not be afraid to stand for the truth" and oppose the plan. "A dictator is not a hero and should not be given the honor to lie with heroes," said Father Reyes who is also known as the "running priest."

Father Reyes laments that Duterte is "twisting history" when he entertained the appeal from the Marcos family. "President Duterte, you should respect history, you cannot manipulate history. The worst thing that ever happened to the Philippines is Marcos," said the  priest.

He urged the president not to be part of the "crime of deceiving the people and accepting the lies of the Marcoses." The priest said burying Marcos in the cemetery is an insult to the thousands of victims of martial law whose families continue to seek justice from the Marcos family.

Following the Supreme Court decision, thousands of protesters staged rallies, arguing that army guidelines disqualify soldiers guilty of moral turpitude from being buried there, although Marcos was never found liable in a criminal case.

Families and friends of martial law victims also piled stones with the names of their loved ones on the proposed burial site for the late president. 

"We will not stop our opposition, and if need be we will barricade the cemetery," said Father Reyes who urged the people to "sweat it out and make sacrifices for justice," and urging the Marcos family to give their patriarch a "proper" burial elsewhere. "I might even join you and pray with you," he said.

The Order of Friars of Minor (OFM) in the Philippines, also demonstrated in a Nov. 10 statement their extreme disappointment over the Supreme Court decision allowing former President Ferdinand E. Marcos burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

“We, the friars of the Order of Friars Minor-Province of San Juan Bautista in the Philippines, who participated in the struggle for justice and peace during and after martial rule express our sadness, disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction, irritation with the Supreme Court decision,” said Br. Alejo Villanueva, OFM Provincial Animator.

The Filipino vice-president, Leni Robredo, said the ruling would “keep the wounds of the past unhealed”. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines also opposed the move, saying Marcos lied about the medals he received as a soldier during the second world war.

(Source: UCANews; The Guardian)