NHCP chief resigns over FM burial

MANILA, Philippines – The head of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) tendered her resignation yesterday in protest against President Duterte’s allowing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Malacañang said it respected Maria Serena Diokno’s decision to quit and thanked her for her service.

Diokno made the announcement the day before the scheduled anti-Marcos burial rallies set for today.

Her resignation takes effect tomorrow.

In a one-page statement titled “History Lives,” Diokno said: “Today I tendered my resignation from the NHCP (effective 1 December 2016).
I have deep gratitude and
respect for my fellow workers at the commission, whom I will miss. I am saddened at leaving them.”

“Tomorrow, I will join the popular assertion of our history and look forward to more in as many public venues as possible. Never again will we allow any remnant of the authoritarian past to take hold of our country,” she added.

Diokno is the daughter of former senator Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno, who strongly opposed the Marcos dictatorship.

She has been vocal in her opposition to Marcos being buried alongside the country’s heroes.

“At this moment in our history, every voice counts, and I wish to place mine on the side of history: not the history that the Duterte government ignores, but the history that beckons our people to demand justice that even the highest court of the land will not bestow,” she said.

The outgoing NHCP chief added: “The burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is wrong; it denies our history, erases the memory of lives lost and destroyed, mocks the collective action we took to oust the dictator and denigrates the value of our struggle for freedom.”

She noted that even if a majority of the Supreme Court (SC) voted in favor of Marcos’ burial at the Libingan, 9-5 with one abstention, President Duterte “could have taken the higher ground. But he chose not to.”

“Worse, he justifies his ‘legalistic’ action by claiming falsely that ‘there’s no study, no movie about it (Marcos’ record as leader), just the challenges and allegations of the other side,’” she said.

She said at first she thought she could remain with the NHCP even if she has different views with the present leadership just to protect history from those who attempt to deface it.

“But the multitude of especially young Filipinos who have come out in defense of history and are prepared to co-author it for their generation and the future point to one clear realization: they, we all, will guide our history,” Diokno added.

In Malacañang, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Office of the Executive Secretary has received Diokno’s resignation letter.

“We respect Chair Diokno’s decision and we thank her for the services she rendered to the nation as she headed the commission responsible for the conservation and preservation of the country’s historical legacies,” Abella said in a statement.