Bishop believes government won't allow hero's burial for Marcos

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) believes the government would not allow the burial of the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“For me, if the Libingan ng mga Bayani is really intended for heroes, I do not think he (former President Marcos) would be qualified to be buried there,” said CBCP-Public Affairs Committee (PAC) chairman Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez.                                                                                                      

During his term, Marcos declared martial rule that led to human rights violations and curtailing of press freedom. Opposition leaders and militant activists such as Senators Benigno Aquino Jr., Jovito Salonga and Jose Diokno were detained as political prisoners.                                                     

Left-wing groups have been opposing the petition of the Marcos family to allow the burial of the late president’s remains at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.                           

President Aquino earlier said he would assign an official to assess if it would be proper to bury Marcos’ remains at the Libingan.                                                                                    

The matter of Marcos’ burial was revived because of the burial of the late former Armed Forces chief Angelo Reyes at the heroes’ cemetery.                                                         

There were arguments that if Reyes – who faced corruption charges just before he took his life – was buried at the Libingan,the same accord should be given to Marcos who was also a soldier.                                                                       

“If a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces can be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, then why not a former president who was a former soldier and war hero?” said Laguna 2^nd district Rep. Timmy Chipeco.                                                        

He said Marcos should have been buried at the Libingan a long time ago.                                                                             

“After all, he has also done good for the country. It’s not all bad. There is something in him that we can consider as good also,” he said.                                                                         

“This is precisely why we should look into this matter…because it is really difficult to judge if a person is a hero or not, except those who knew what he really did… There are regulations and traditions regarding this and they should consider them,” Iñiguez said. – With Manny Galvez