Inter the embalmed body of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero suggested, of all days, on the 42nd anniversary of the impostion of martial law.
Sure. The 3,257 extrajudicial killings under the “New Society” exceeded even Chile’s 2,115 summary executions. But forget all that, Senator Chiz argues. There’s no debate that Marcos was a former head of state and a soldier, these two facts justify a Libingan burial. It’d “end all open wounds in our history so the nation can move forward faster.” Chiz did not blink.
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III did not blink either. He nixed graveyard volleys, horse-drawn caisson, taps, etc. for an overdue funeral of Marcos who died in exile after fleeing People Power crowds. The dictator’s corpse has been embalmed for 36 years now, ala Mao Ze Dong and Ho Chi Minh.
At Boston College earlier this week, Aquino III addressed a standing room audience at Robsham Theater to recall how his family found refuge from the dictatorship at the 175 Commonwealth Ave Newton home. “Boston gave my family a sense of normalcy in what can only be described as very abnormal times back home… Every aspect of life was controlled there by the dictator….”
Since 2010, Boston College has offered a scholarship for Asian-American students, Professor Min Song said. But students pressed for a grant to recognize achievements of a leader. A Boston College scholarship for black students is named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Its Hispanic scholarship honors Archbishop Oscar Romero who may be beatified by the Catholic Church this year.
Boston College decided to formally name the scholarship for Benigno and Corazon Aquino. “(It) tells us something about the struggle for justice,” Song said. “One might never see the fulfillment of one’s aspirations for justice, but that one nevertheless survives and finds courage to attain it. And if one fails, someone else will pick up that struggle… that the struggle for justice never ends.”
“Libingan Ng Mga Bayani is not another memorial park,” the late former Justice Isagani Cruz explained in his Inquirer column, “That Queasy Feeling.” “It is a place where none but heroes lie.”
Nations inter their heroes in hallowed ground. These include Singapore’s Krangji memorial, Indonesia’s Kalibata to France’s Les Inavlides. Disgraced US President Richard Nixon never badgered for a grave in the US National Arlington cemetery.
Then mint-new president, Joseph Estrada agreed, with characteristic little thought, to a Libingan funeral for Marcos. It triggered a firestorm that left Erap in a daze more searing than till-dawn carousing with favor seekers in Malacañang.
Within Libingan today are remains of 32,268 Bataan death march victims, as well those of Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Presidents Carlos Garcia and Diosdado Macapagal are buried there. So are National Artists like editor Teodoro Locsin Sr. and dignitaries, including Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee.
Marcos set aside a Libingan plot for himself in the 142-hectare cemetery, AFP’s Grave Service Unit website shows. But People Power abruptly chased him, family and cronies into luxurious Hawaiian exile.
An earlier resolution that 203 congressmen, led by Chiz’s late father, urged Aquino to allow Marcos burial in Libingan. When the 204 signed, some of 9,541 Marcos victims received the first,
followed by second, reparation $1,000-checks awarded by the US District Court of Hawaii. It found Marcos “liable for systematic torture, summary executions and disappearances.”
The Escudero proposal re-ignites the issue where former senator Rene Saguisag earlier declared: his family would exhume remains of his officer-father-in-law if Marcos were interred in Libingan.
Our family debates around a Cebuano fighter pilot in a Libingan grave: Lt. Salvador Manlunas. President Manuel Quezon bestowed the McMiking Award on Manlunas. He was among pilots welded into a fighter squadron by Capt. Jesus Villamor. Today’s airbase that abuts Ninoy Aquino International Airport bears Villamor’s name.
In a letter to Estrada, Lt. Manlunas’ elder sister, Victoria Manlunas-Mansueto, wrote: “My younger brother, and others fought, in obsolete P-26 planes, against modern Japanese Zeroes. He was one of the first casualties.
“Bading never had a Swiss bank account. Nor did he own vast lands. All he has today is a quiet tree-lined street in Villamor Airbase that bears his name. He has a simple Libingan grave, along with other veterans.
“Now, you’d bury next to Bading, as a hero, someone who the Guinness Book of Records credits for massive theft, human rights violations, let alone bogus war medals.”
That refers to phony medals exposed by New York Times. “At no time, did the Army recognize any unit, designating itself as Maharlika ever existed as guerrilla force in 1942 to 1945,” US Army concluded. “The immensity of Mr. Marcos’ claim that Maharlika served entire Luzon was absurd. It dismissed Marcos bid for compensation.”
The likelihood here is that the Marcos corpse may remain unburied, foresees Sun Star’s Bong Wenceslao. “That’d serve the machinery propping up the politics of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for 2016.”
“Whoever is president then would authorize, as Imee hopes, horse-drawn caisson and graveyard volleys. Using a cadaver, as a political chip, would be a macabre joke.”
The late President Corazon Aquino never demanded a Libingan grave. She’s buried next to Benigno Jr. in a private cemetery. “Values that endure after the sun burns out” don’t require congressional imprimaturs. The Resurrection occurred from a borrowed tomb.
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