Marcos at the Libingan? Maybe, but with conditions
SAN FRANCISCO—Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani?
In the spirit of the Lenten Season, even though some of my friends would probably strongly object, I’ll say: Maybe, but with conditions.
First off, the Marcoses, led by Bongbong, Imelda and Imee, must make the following statement:
“We apologize for the serious harm Ferdinand Marcos caused the Filipino nation during his 21-year reign. Still, we ask that you allow us to bury him at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani based on his service as a soldier during World War II, even if though he did exaggerate his war record.”
That’s it. Roughly 50 words. It’s really a pretty tame, some would even say lame, statement. But we can start there, since there has never been a statement like that from the Marcoses since the fall of the regime.
We’ll take it. We can use it. We can have the statement translated into every major Philippine language, put it on huge plaque, and place it in a prominent spot at the Libingan.
Now that's just Step. No. 1. From there, we move on to another concern: how to rename the cemetery.
Former Senator Rene Saguisag, a veteran of the movement that ousted the dictator, proposes renaming it “Libingan ng Mga Bayani at Pangulo.” Since his supporters are focused on Marcos’s military record, then maybe the name should be “Libingan ng Mga Bayani at Sundalo.”
Now, in case the Marcoses still don’t get the point here, let’s spell it out more clearly.
There may be room for discussion—a very narrow one—based on the fact that Marcos was a soldier (even though he had an overactive imagination in recalling what he did during the war) and an ex-president (even if he did end up on the list of the world’s most corrupt rulers.)
But on one point, there’s no room for debate: Marcos was no a hero—and any attempt to portray him as one is a cynical lie.
In fact, some Filipinos from a small island in the middle of the archipelago take an even harder line. The editors of the Bohol Standard believe that, if Marcoses get their way, the new name should be “Libingan ng Mga Buwaya.” That’s going too far. It would also be an insult to the true heroes buried at the Libingan. And a Facebook user joked that it would be also be an affront to crocodiles.
In any case, the debate rages.
Meanwhile, the son of the most famous victim of the dictatorship is sitting on the sidelines. That’s the most puzzling twist in this controversy. After all, this is such an important issue that the nation’s leader cannot afford not to lead.
Besides, Noynoy’s “I-am-biased-so-I-should-not-decide” excuse doesn’t make sense. For in his supposed desire for impartiality, he passed the buck on to someone who was not exactly neutral during the Marcos years.
Before he became vice president, and before he turned into the Makati political kingpin who out-campaigned Mar Roxas, Jojo Binay was one of the fighting lawyers of Mabini who waged battle on the legal frontlines in the long struggle against the dictatorship.
The first time I saw him in action was in the early 1980s in a Quezon City courtroom when he was one of the lawyers defending the staff of WE Forum, the opposition newspaper Marcos shut down for daring to tell the truth about the regime, including the dictator’s wild fantasies about being a dashing hero during World War 2.
Hopefully, Binay will remember his days as a lawyer-warrior, defending not only the prominent opponents of the regime, but also the ordinary Filipinos who fought back during that dark period.
Hopefully, he will honor the memory of other human rights champions, including the late Pepe Diokno, Lorenzo Tanada and his old ally Dr. Nemesio Prudente, who died just three years ago, and who was jailed and suffered two attempts on his life because of his commitment to social justice.
Hopefully, there won’t be a shameless compromise on this issue, an “areglo” based on a twisted definition of “national reconciliation.”
The fact is many of us who are against Marcos at the Libingan are not against reconciliation. I personally am open to compromise. But not if compromise or reconciliation means distorting history, or worse, manipulating Filipinos into simply ignoring what happened to our country under Marcos.
And clearly, the Marcos forces have been counting on Filipinos forgetting.
And so to the Marcos camp we should say this: Acknowledge what happened and apologize—then the discussions can begin.
Otherwise, forget about us forgetting what happened during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
And forget about trying to repackage that frozen corpse up north into something that it’s not. For Marcos was and will always be remembered as one of the most brutal and corrupt leaders in our nation’s history.
Copyright 2011 by Benjamin Pimentel.
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