Even in death, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos or specifically his family and their political allies pulled a fast one over the Filipino people by managing to hold his burial behind closed gates and away from the protesters who are sure to come by the thousands if ever they got wind of what happened.
The Supreme Court did decide in favor of Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, but it has yet to be cast in stone or ruled with finality.
Whoever advised the Marcos family to carry out the burial ceremony probably anticipated that a public announcement of the burial will be met with resistance and rallies.
The preparations and eventual ceremony complete with 21-gun salute were done in secrecy, reminding us of the many anomalous deals that have buried the country in billions of pesos in unpaid loans as well as the treacherous summary executions that claimed the lives of those who protested the martial law regime.
A source cited by the Philippine Daily Inquirer said a “notice was given to all concerned” by the Marcos family late last Thursday evening who wished that the burial ceremony be done in private with full military honors, of course, as befitting their patriarch whose military record was not only questionable but was a ludicrous myth that insulted the courage and the sacrifices made by the soldiers, the real heroes who laid their lives to regain this country’s freedom from foreign oppressors.
“To all concerned” meant the military and police who were tasked to secure the Libingan ng Mga Bayani site from the rallyists, a melting pot of old and not-so-old who remembered and experienced the brutality of the Marcos martial law regime, and the young who were not yet born at the time but whose eyes and minds were opened to the reality of that period that the Marcoses have painted as a golden era in Philippine history.
It’s hard to believe that President Rodrigo Duterte, who is in Peru for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference, could not have known the preparations made and the actual date of the burial ceremony in advance as his absence provided a convenient excuse for him to escape blame from the anti-Marcos opponents.
By successfully staging the burial ceremony “in secret,” the Marcos family not only accomplished their goal but cut off any chance by protesters to stop them and absolved the President of any involvement in their scheme.
Protesters including those in Cebu who staged their own burial ceremony for Marcos at the Inayawan landfill in Cebu City could only rage and denounce to the heavens the underhanded, utter brazenness with which the Marcos burial was carried out amid a pending appeal at the Supreme Court.
Even in death, Marcos, his family and their political allies managed to fool the Filipino people into allowing them to honor his blood-stained, dishonorable legacy.
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