Libingan ng mga Pangulo
This is for the record.
On Sept. 23, the Supreme Court ( SC) asked me to provide additional comments after I testified on the proposed Marcos burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). In 1992, I was tasked by President Fidel V. Ramos to negotiate the return of Ferdinand Marcos’s (FM) remains from Hawaii with former First Lady Imelda Marcos. It resulted in a MOU that was honored until 2016 even if it was unilaterally altered after we signed it. Here are my comments: “Central to this case is not so much President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s prerogative to approve the transfer of the late Ferdinand E. Marcos’s burial site in Batac, Ilocos Norte to the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig, Metro Manila. That prerogative is a given. He has the power to approve FM’s burial in the LNMB. Neither do I disregard his noble intention to unify the nation by closing the chapter on martial law.
My concern, however, is focused on the consequences of a decision to bury FM in the LNMB. We must be mindful of how it would impact on society in the long run. What message will be imparted to present and future generations? What would be the consequences to the State and the nation? And will the people really unify given the polarization or divisions that the issue continues to cause to this day?
From my lens, it begins with “Public office is a public trust.” That is the bedrock of good government. That trust was broken in many ways in the 20 years that FM was the country’s President, of which 14 years were authoritarian in nature, that legal and social research have established backed by jurisprudence here and abroad. The Honorable Court knows these only too well.
FM dishonored himself, his family and his legacy as President of the Philippines after two decades of kleptocracy and harsh misrule that far outweighed his showcase contributions to society. Consequently, he was dishonorably discharged by the people as President, and by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as its Commander-in-Chief, in February 1986.
That double whammy led him to vacate Malacañang and to live in exile in Hawaii till his death in 1989. It negates any argument why he deserves to be honored with a resting place in the LNMB.
Moreover, to this day, there has been no acknowledgement by his family of their wrongdoing; no remorse; no atonement; no reparation, despite the regime’s chronicled crimes and corruption by scholars worldwide.
Because of that, the chapter on martial law will continue to fester like an open wound. The consequences of FM’s transfer to the LNMB will:
a.) embed the culture of entitlement and impunity.
b.) condone all the wrongs committed by the regime.
c.) perpetuate social and armed conflict. d.) obstruct nation building. e.) bring us closer to a failed state and nation status.
To the ordinary citizen, the LNMB is intuitively the resting place for heroes whose prodigious achievements far outweighed their human failings. Burying FM there will simply not be understood. It will further tear apart the nation’s already tattered moral fabric.
How will we explain it to our sons, daughters and grandchildren at home, in school, in our communities and workplaces, and to the world, that EDSA People Power was a mistake? That syndicated crime and corruption should be condoned? That would be absurd!
Whatever decision flows from this Honorable Court will impact on good governance and the quality of our citizenship for generations to come. It must transcend arguments invoking prerogative for that is not the real issue. Please think of the common good and not the technicalities being invoked that aim to satisfy a personal good.
If we continue to ignore history, we will continue to repeat our mis-
takes. If we continue to neglect ethics, we will continue to favor the culture of wrongdoing and lawlessness that violates everything that our Constitution stands for. Duty calls and says we must not.
A way out of the predicament would be for President Duterte to carve out a portion of the LNMB and name it Libingan ng mga Pangulo, to be managed by the National Historical Institute (my apologies, should be Commission). If so, and for that matter, a president’s burial site could be situated anywhere in the country. It is in my view morally neutral, legally acceptable and politically correct.
I thank the honorable court for inviting me to participate in these historic proceedings and pray for God’s guidance as you deliberate once again the future course of our nation.”