National healing?

In selling to the nation his decision to allow Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, President Duterte argues that the late dictator is being accorded a burial that befits a former president and not necessarily a hero.

That’s the lawyer in Du30 arguing a case. Anyone can tell that the Marcoses are insisting on the Libingan precisely because they want FM to be interred with heroes. For the dictator who was ousted over world-class corruption and human rights atrocities, who died in exile and whose wartime exploits were debunked, it would be vindication.

There are other cemeteries in this country where former presidents are buried. Three of them have tombs at the Manila North Cemetery: Sergio Osmeña, Manuel Roxas and Ramon Magsaysay. Manuel L. Quezon was also buried there until 1979, when his remains were transferred to the memorial circle in his name in Quezon City. Corazon Aquino is resting in peace beside her husband Ninoy at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque.

In fact, only three former presidents are buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Two are Carlos P. Garcia and Diosdado Macapagal. In February this year, the remains of Elpidio Quirino were transferred to the Libingan from the Manila South Cemetery in Makati.

Originally built in honor of soldiers who were killed or veterans of World War II, the Libingan was originally called the Republic Memorial Cemetery. Magsaysay, during his short-lived presidency, changed this to its current name in 1954.

Marcos’ eldest daughter Imee disclosed last week that a Libingan burial was her father’s dying wish. Why did the ousted dictator want the Libingan specifically? He could have his pick of any spot in the entire Paoay and even Ilocos Norte as his final resting place.

Because Marcos was fully aware of the symbolism of that special cemetery. It is a place for heroes and Filipinos who can be held up as models in their chosen fields. Being interred in the heroes’ cemetery would reverse the ignominy of his ouster and death in exile.

So yes, no matter how simple the rites and the tomb may be, as promised by the resurgent Marcos clan, it will be a hero’s burial for Ferdinand Marcos.

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The petitioners in the case against the burial are appealing the Supreme Court decision. Since several of the petitioners are identified with the left, with which Du30 professes ideological kinship, they should instead direct their appeal to him. The President need not go along with the SC ruling. It’s his order that’s being challenged; he can always withdraw it, if his ultimate goal is truly national healing.

Of course you and I know withdrawing the order is wishful thinking. Du30 is a true-blue Marcos loyalist, though he believes Imelda is a crook who ruined his idol. Apart from the fact that his father Vicente served in the Marcos Cabinet, Du30 has said in public that he considers Marcos to be the most “brilliant” president of the Philippines (which is probably why Filipinos no longer look for intellectual capability in picking national leaders, but this is another story). The Libingan burial is also Du30’s way of showing appreciation to Imee, one of only a handful of provincial governors who supported his presidential bid. Imee has denied Du30’s insinuation that the support included campaign funding.

Du30 is not only bent on giving Marcos a hero’s burial; he keeps threatening to step down and hand over power to his vice president – who, if an electoral protest prospers, would not be Leni Robredo but Marcos’ only son and namesake, former senator Bongbong.

A Bongbong Marcos presidency – something Imeldific has not denied hoping for – will be the ultimate vindication for Ferdinand Marcos and his clan.

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The open admiration for the late dictator is one of the reasons why people scoff at Du30’s repeated promise that his government will be corruption-free.

Among the most perplexing phenomena in our weak republic is that billions in ill-gotten assets traced to the Marcoses have been seized or identified for forfeiture, but no one has been punished for the unlawful, unexplainable accumulation of immense wealth. We have a crime without a single criminal. How is this possible?

The looming burial of the dictator has compounded the bad press about the Philippines generated overseas by the endless killings in the drug war.

Here’s an excerpt from The Economist, in an article titled “Hail to the thief,” which came out last Friday:

DURING the 20 years Ferdinand Marcos spent as president of the Philippines, his official salary never rose above $13,500 a year. Yet by 1986, when the “people power” revolution prompted him and his wife Imelda to flee into exile in Hawaii, they had amassed a fortune. Mrs Marcos left behind her shoe collection, but her husband brought with him jewellery, gold bricks and freshly printed Philippine currency, together worth around $15m. In all, he and his cronies are thought to have plundered perhaps $10 billion. What is more, during his time in office thousands of Filipinos were tortured, jailed without due process or murdered by the regime’s thugs.

On the Supreme Court’s decision on the Libingan burial and its call for the people to move on, the article concludes: But to many, as one strongman buries another, the Philippines appears to be moving backward, not forward.

Not that Du30 gives a rat’s butt about what the world thinks of him. But this issue, on top of the thousands killed in his ruthless drug war including the crude execution of Mayor Rolando Espinosa, and now his plan to suspend the writ of habeas corpus are creating an atmosphere of instability that is harming the country no matter how much his sycophants deny it. This is unnecessary and could have been avoided with some presidential circumspection.

Yesterday Palace firefighters said the habeas corpus plan was “just an idea” and no date was set for Marcos’ Libingan burial.

Perhaps Du30 may still reconsider his decision, which can cost him considerable support from the left. The Marcoses, for their part, can do the President a favor by not putting him on the spot and saying they are “turning down” the gracious offer of a Libingan burial.

Marcos wanted vindication so yes, it will be a hero’s burial for him. And no, it’s not leading to national healing. In fact instead of letting old wounds heal, it’s reopening them, and rubbing salt on them.