The gall of the Marcoses

By Al S. Mendoza

 

BY its very name, the Libingan ng Mga Bayani is a cemetery reserved for heroes.

And what is a hero again?

It is one who, in his lifetime:

1. Fought for his country;
2. Didn’t harm his country; and,
3. Loved his people with all his might, with all his heart, and with all his soul.

Rizal, Bonifacio, Luna, Mabini, Lopez Jaena, Malvar, GomBurZa, Del Pilar, Jacinto, Diego and Gabriela Silang, Tandang Sora, Villamor, Quezon, Recto, Magsaysay, Jopson, Tagamolila, Lacaba, Rosal, Tanada, Diokno, Ninoy, Salonga and many others, including even Sakay and Lapu-Lapu, richly deserve a plot each at Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

But has anyone among them been accorded one?

Not even Rizal has one—even if only symbolically.

Ninoy, too, whose remains are at Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque.

And now this, the motherhood aberration if it should happen:  Marcos could be due for burial at Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

If plans don’t miscarry, it might be in September, Marcos’ birth month (he was born September 11).

Of the three criteria mentioned above for one deserving a slot at Libingan ng Mga Bayani, Marcos passed just one: He fought the Japs in World War II.

But even that easily got obliterated when he was exposed to have manufactured not just one but several fake war medals.

In short, he did fight for his country—only to be disgraced for having brandished proof of fakery for valor.

By declaring Martial Law that killed freedom of everything beginning 1972, Marcos did more harm than good for the country.

To the free world, we had become the butt of jokes until People Power drove Marcos out of Malacanang in the bloodless Edsa Revolt of 1986.

How could Marcos have loved our country with all his might, heart and soul when the people he was sworn to serve banished him to Hawaii?

Shortly afterwards, he would face a slew of class suits for the deaths of activists and many others who opposed his dictatorship, forced disappearances and various human rights violations during his 14-year reign of terror.

Finding him guilty on crimes against humanity, an American court ordered him to pay damages to the victims amounting to no less than P2 billion.

Until now, the government is in hot pursuit of alleged ill-gotten wealth of almost P10 billion that Marcos, who died in Hawaii in 1989 and whose cadaver remains refrigerated in Ilocandia, had stashed while in power.

Why Bongbong Marcos, the dictator’s son who narrowly lost to Leni Robredo in the last vice presidential race, has the gumption to again resurrect the repeatedly torpedoed move for a Marcos burial at the Libingan is as abhorrent as Judas’ betrayal of Jesus.

And should President-elect Duterte proceed to bow to Bongbong’s bereft-of-dignity pleading, goodbye to nobility and everything honorable.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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