Petition vs Marcos burial at Libingan

STUDENTS of University of the Philippines (UP) filed a petition of certoriari and prohibition before the Supreme Court yesterday to prohibit the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).

Based on a press release from Samahan Ng Progresibong Kabataan, the petition asked the high court to declare the memorandum issued by the Secretary of the Department of the National Defense last August 7 and the interment of the deposed dictator at the LNMB as ultra vires for being without legal basis and unconstitutional.

The petitioners Zaria Baniagam, John Arvin Buenaagua, Joanne Lim and Juan Antonio Magalang were accompanied by their counsel Atty. Jesus Falcris III.

The complainants argued that it was stipulated that in Republic Act 289, the power and authority to allow Marcos Sr. to be buried can only emanate from the Board of National Pantheon, a body composed of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, and the Secretary of Education, and two private citizens to be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, to which the Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is not included.

They claim that Secretary Lorenzana may have abused his authority and

must be ordered by the Supreme Court to cease from implementing his own memorandum.

They also argued that the deposed dictator is disqualified from being buried at the 103-hectare Heroes’ Cemetery for he falls under the category of those “dishonorably separated or discharged from the service” and was witnessed by the whole world on February 25, 1986 and that a LNMB burial for Marcos Sr. would place him in the same category as other Presidents who were already buried in the LNMB - Presidents Elpidio Quirino, Carlos Garcia, and Diosdado Macapagal, all of which were not ousted from office or found to be guilty of atrocities and ill-gotten wealth. KVC (For full story visit www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/)