A resolution seeking to disqualify former President Ferdinand Marcos from eligibility of a hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani has been filed at the Senate.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, author of Senate Resolution No. 86, said the resolution seeks to disallow the burial of the late strongman at the national heroes’ cemetery as the latter does not qualify to be included in the roster of former presidents that were laid to rest in the vicinity.
Hontiveros said that while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) regulation regarding the allocation of cemetery plots at the LNMB allows for the burial of former presidents, Marcos is an exception to the rule.
She said an exception was provided for those who were convicted of offenses involving moral turpitude.
“In the case of Hilao v. Estate of Marcos, the jury found the estate of defendant Ferdinand Marco liable to 10,059 plaintiffs for the acts of torture, summary execution and disappearance,” Hontiveros said.
“This conviction should suffice to disqualify Marcos from being buried at the heroes’ cemetery,” she said.
An activist during the martial law regime, Hontiveros suggested that President Rodrigo Duterte change his mind and instead offer to the Marcos family an opportunity for them to bury their dead anywhere in the Philippines.
The neophyte senator said that the Duterte government should just allow the remains of the former dictator in his hometown or some other place “that will not serve to distort history, assail democracy and insult all those who fought and died to end the dictatorship.”