Last August 17, 2016, I wrote to you a letter in support of the
Petitions seeking to stop the burial of the late President Ferdinand E.
Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. As a follow-up thereto (and to
reinforce the arguments I have advanced in my previous letter, some of
which are being reiterated here), may I respectfully be allowed to reply
to the Comments of the Office of the Solicitor General to said
Petitions as published in different newspapers and request that this
Reply including my previous letter be noted and be made part of the
records of the cases now pending before the Honorable Supreme Court.
This, I do pursuant to my sworn duty as a lawyer to uphold the
Constitution, whose mandates most sadly are being seriously breached by
the assailed Order of the President.
I do so likewise pursuant
to our people’s right to the truth (and to honor only those deserving
their respect and veneration), which will be violated by said burial as
it will perpetrate the lie that Marcos is a hero. I do so moreover
pursuant to the right not only of human rights victims but of the entire
Filipino nation to be restored of their honor and dignity (Section 11,
Article II, 1987 Constitution) which were debased during the Martial law
years.
I do so finally, pursuant to my duty to help preserve in
our people’s collective memory as part of our nation’s historical
heritage (and bequeathing it to the generations still unborn) the bitter
lessons of Martial law (which the burial in a most deliberate effort to
distort history is seeking to erase), lest for failure to learn from
said lessons, tyranny may in the future again rule this sad land of
ours.
Most evidently, our people, by reason of the violation of
their aforementioned rights guaranteed by our Constitution and by
International Law, will sustain legal injury if the former President’s
remains are buried at the Libingan. Contrary then to the claim of the
Office of the Solicitor General, any Filipino, including Petitioners,
have legal standing to question said burial.
The OSG in a most
desperate attempt to brush aside this issue, has claimed that it is a
political question or one which is within the President’s powers, wisdom
or discretionary authority to decide. This is not true since there are
laws and thus judicially discoverable and manageable standards for the
Honorable Supreme Court to resolve it (Vinuya, Et. Al. vs. The Honorable
Executive Secretary, Et. Al, G.R. No. 162230, April 28, 2010). Contrary
then to the claim of the OSG, the issue of the Marcos burial at the
Libingan is perfectly justiciable.
The standards set by law are
most clear. The Libingan shall be the burial place of the mortal remains
only of “those illustrious sons of the Philippines, who, on account of
the patriotism, knowledge, or other salient qualities possessed by them
in life, attracted to themselves the respect and veneration of their
fellow citizens” (Act No. 1856, 1908) and those “Presidents of the
Philippines, national heroes and patriots” whose memory deserve to be
perpetuated “for the inspiration and emulation of this generation and of
generations still unborn” (Republic Act No. 289, 1948).
Thus,
contrary to the claim of the OSG, the mere fact that Marcos is a
President or soldier does not ipso facto qualify him for burial at the
Libingan.
It is not true as the OSG has alleged that the Libingan
is not actually reserved for heroes or its purpose has neither been to
confer the people buried therein with the title of ‘hero’ nor to require
that only those buried therein should be treated as heroes.
That such is the purpose of the Libingan is most clear in President
Magsaysay’s Executive Order No. 77, s. 1954, honoring the memory of our
war dead, finding it most “fitting and proper that their remains be
interred in one national cemetery”, which he subsequently renamed
through Proclamation No. 86, s. 1954 as “Libingan ng mga Bayani”, so as
to make it truly “symbolic of the cause for which our soldiers have
died” as well as to “express the nation’s esteem and reverence for her
war dead”.
President Ramos’s own Executive Order No. 131, s. of
1993 confirms this. It declares that our “National Artists and National
Scientists are national heroes who, upon death, are entitled to state
funeral” and thus the honor of being buried too at the Libingan ng mga
Bayani.
For all intents and purposes then, the Libingan ng mga
Bayani has already become the National Pantheon, envisioned and referred
to by Act No. 1856 and Republic Act No. 289. It is precisely to realize
the legal intent and spirit of said laws that Presidents Magsaysay and
Ramos issued their respective Executive Orders and Presidential
Proclamations. It is therefore not true as claimed by the OSG that the
Libingan ng mga Bayani is not already the National Pantheon referred to
by said laws. This, the Honorable Supreme Court cannot reasonably
disregard or be oblivious about.
The Honorable Supreme Court
cannot ignore and be oblivious of its own declaration in the case of
Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Et. Al. vs. Yolanda Arquero, Et. Al.
(G.R. No. 161405, July 21, 2006), acknowledging that the Libingan ng
mga Bayani is “the memorial park for our national heroes… and should be
respected as the fitting resting place of our fallen soldiers and
martyrs” (Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Et. Al. vs. Yolanda
Arquero, Et. Al., G.R. No. 161405, July 21, 2006).
That only
those deserving the respect, veneration, esteem and reverence of our
nation, who can serve as an inspiration and models for emulation of this
generation and of generations still unborn as provided for in said laws
are fit to be honored for burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is in
fact reinforced by Armed Forces Regulations G 161-373 issued in 1986, as
it prohibits “personnel who were dishonorably separated/ reverted/
discharged from the service and personnel who were convicted by final
judgment of an offense involving moral turpitude” from being interred
there. This, the Honorable Supreme Court likewise cannot disregard or be
oblivious about.
The Honorable Supreme Court most certainly
cannot ignore and be oblivious of its numerous decisions which have
indubitably established that Marcos was indeed a dictator who robbed our
people of their basic rights and freedoms, who violated their human
rights wholesale and who plundered the nation’s wealth. It thus, could
not lawfully allow said burial, just because as argued by the OSG,
Marcos was neither dishonorably discharged, nor was he was ever actually
convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
That Marcos
has not met the standards set by law and thus consequently is not
deserving of the honor of being buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is
impliedly admitted by the OSG itself when it declared that “as it is
written now, Philippine history is on the side of… everyone who fought
and died for democracy.” “No amount of heartfelt eulogy, gun salutes,
holy anointment, and elaborate procession and rituals can transmogrify
the dark pages of history during Martial Law.”
While burial at
the Libingan will not make him a hero, it will perpetrate the lie, in
clear distortion of history and in utter disrespect of our heroes and
the entire Filipino nation, that Marcos, the plunderer and violator of
human rights is a hero. That is precisely what will happen if the
Honorable Supreme Court will allow said burial, thereby consequently
giving the Marcoses the opportunity to parade the Dictator’s mortal
remains in our streets, with all the rituals appropriate only for a
hero, thus making it appear that he is indeed one worth emulating.
The people’s oppression under Martial Law and their glorious and heroic
struggle against the ruthless Marcos dictatorship however are already
part of our nation’s historical and cultural heritage which our
Constitution and our laws direct the State to conserve and promote
(Section 15, Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution; Section 2(a),
Republic Act No. 10066; Section 1, Republic Act No. 10086) and whose
lessons on patriotism and nationalism, respect for human rights as well
as the appreciation of the role of our national heroes are not only the
constitutional duty of our educational institutions to inculcate
(Section 3(2), Article XIV, 1987 Constitution) but also the duty of this
generation to protect and preserve for future generations of Filipinos
(Justice Padilla’s Concurring Opinion in Manila Prince Hotel vs.
Government Service Insurance System, Et. Al., G.R. No. 122156, February
3, 1997), lest as already mentioned, for failure to learn history’s
lessons about Martial Law, darkness may in the future again rule this
sad land of ours.
Allowing the burial of Marcos at the Libingan
ng mga Bayani will most clearly violate said constitutional mandates,
thereby seriously infringing on our people’s right to the truth and to
honor only those deserving their respect and veneration as well as the
right not only of human rights victims but of the entire Filipino nation
to be restored of their honor and dignity (Section 11, Article II, 1987
Constitution) which were debased during the Martial law years. The OSG
thus totally misses the point when it considered the matter as simply
involving compensation for human rights victims.
Contrary then to
the claim of the OSG, President Duterte’s order to bury Marcos at the
Libingan is clearly violative of what it has itself acknowledged as an
anti-dictatorship 1987 Constitution and thus is void. Being contrary to
the standards prescribed by law (which is impliedly admitted by the OSG
itself) it is illegal and by reason thereof, amounts to an executive
usurpation of legislative power, violative of the principle of
separation of powers and thus is likewise void and must be set aside.
Oral arguments on the Petitions, originally set last August 24, 2016
was moved to August 31, 2016. I find this as a most strange coincidence
since we will likewise be commemorating on said date:
1) The
109th birth anniversary of President Ramon Magsaysay who is responsible
for giving the cemetery its current name, to precisely honor our true
war heroes whose mortal remains are interred there;
2) The 39th
death anniversary of Archimedes Trajano, who is one of our numerous
hero-martyrs, who was tortured and murdered by the ruthless Marcos
dictatorship and
3) The 33rd anniversary of the burial of Ninoy
Aquino, whose heroic death spelled the beginning of the end of the
Marcos dictatorship?
Is SOMEONE somewhere actually sending us a
message that we should NEVER FORGET for whom the Libingan is truly for
and why Dictator Marcos is most unworthy of being buried in those
hallowed grounds?
I have a strong feeling that the true heroes
of our race, like Magsaysay, Trajano and Ninoy will be with us on August
31, 2016 when the oral arguments are held.
