The Marcoses displayed their gross disrespect and horrible insult to the very institution that granted them the favor to bury the remains of the late president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The Supreme Court rendered the decision on November 8, 2016. According to the Rules of Court, it will become final and executory only after the lapse of the period to file a motion for reconsideration which is fifteen (15) days from its decision, or on November 23, 2016.
Nevertheless, the Marcoses executed the unripe decision by surreptitiously burying the remains of the dictator last Friday, November 18, 2016, five (5) days short of its maturity.
They did not give the other party the time to follow the normal procedure of filing a motion for reconsideration and they did not give the Supreme Court the chance to take a second look of its decision. They arrogantly showed their Marcosian style and shocking action to the Filipino people by totally ignoring the procedure.
Such latest action of disrespect is parallel to the incident in September 7, 1993 when former president Fidel Ramos gave them the favor of permitting them to bring back the remains of Marcos in the country. The said permission was anchored on the condition that the remains will be immediately buried in his place in Ilocos, an arrangement that the family pretended to agree on.
However, they insulted Ramos by not fulfilling the covenant and by their action they put him in a shameful situation by impliedly telling the people that a commander-in-chief who happened to be a graduate of West Point was misled, deceived and outsmarted.
Notably, these events happened when the late dictator had long passed away. These were actions of his heirs. Hence, no wonder that many Filipinos especially those who had experience in the Marcos regime could imagine how the dictator’s illness infected his descendants like a deadly congenital decease.
People, especially those victims during the Marcos regime, could not easily forget that the late dictator allegedly killed 3,257 people; tortured more than 35,000 and arrested more than 70,000 people without legal and sufficient basis. Many are still missing until today including a Redemptorist priest, Fr. Rudy Romano.
Marcos was also alleged to have stolen 10 billion dollars from the people’s coffer, and in fact according to a report, he is tagged as second in the list of the “world’s most corrupt leaders”. His mismanagement for 20 long years has affected our country even up to the present.
People could hardly imagine the unforgivable mistakes that the late dictator committed to the Filipino people, and yet up to his grave he still managed to grab a very expensive lot which title belongs to the heroes.
With the latest incident, hopefully people, some of them have easily forgotten the past experiences, will be reminded of the dark part of the past. Likewise, may this incident trigger the new generation to look at the truth to prevent a repetition of a tragic part of our country’s history.