Various Sectors Gathered in CDO Saying Former President Marcos is Not a Hero

09 Sep Various Sectors Gathered in CDO Saying Former President Marcos is Not a Hero

On September 7, Wednesday afternoon, individuals from several sectors of the academe, the church, Non-Government Organizations, youth groups, and martial law victims or their families assembled in Cagayan de Oro to expressed their disapproval to the President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to bury the body of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) in Taguig, Manila.

Kris Buntag, 34 years old, a project based worker at Xavier University stated, “Marcos is not a hero, I am thankful that people here in Cagayan de Oro came out and joined us with their voice against the planned burial of the dictator Marcos in the LNMB. People should learn to know the truth and give justice to the human right victims of the Martial Law. Three armed men abducted my father when I was just two years old back in July of 1984 in Butuan City; he had been missing ever since. There was no warrant and document that would support his arrest or abduction.”

“We are here in solidarity against the burial of the late dictator Marcos in the LNMB. He is not a hero. We call on the youth not to be swayed by social media propaganda and make their own independent research about the evil truth behind the martial law years. They should also listen and learn to keep an open mind about the real facts and not the falsified lies the Marcos family are creating. We should never forget,” added Al Rashid Galaura of the Oro Youth Development Council.

Fr Leopold Van Vaught also shared his experience as he was used to be a priest during the martial law. As he spoke, “I was a Carmelite priest in Butuan City working as a director for the social action center, I got involved in one of the protest strikes in Iligan City. I got arrested and was jailed. They chained me for being part of the protest and accused me of being one of its leaders; I was brought to Manila and got deported to Holland. Marcos is no hero.”

He added that he was not allowed to come back to the Philippines but with the help from the bishops he was able to return.

The burial of the late president in the Heroes’ Cemetery “will not heal our wounded country,” Derrick Pimentel, a professor at Xavier University said.

Pimentel stated, “There is no denying that, to this day, we are still haunted by the memories of abuse and injustices most Filipinos have experienced during the Marcos Regime. It is disturbing to hear comments from people who are obviously uninformed and detached from the experiences of Filipinos during Martial Law. This motivated the group to organize a Solidarity Rally against the burial of Marcos at LNMB. The group intends to break the silence among Kagayanons who seemed to have forgotten the dark years of our history and refuse to honor the real heroes who fought for our democracy.”

A statement from the concerned institutions – Institute of Social Order (ISO), John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI), and Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB), was also quoted by the group.

On the statement, “Thirty years ago, Filipinos rallied against the injustices of Martial Law. Filipinos left a mark in our history where the sovereign Filipino people ousted the dictator and fought to uphold the dignity of our Democracy. Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries human dignity by legitimizing the massive violations of human and civil rights, especially of the right to life that took place under his regime.”

“Burying the dictator in LNMB buries truth by perpetuating the myth of Marcos’s achievements as a leader, distorting the valuable lessons of history that we pass on to our young, and confusing them about what constitutes heroism. It buries justice by justifying the shameless corruption of the dictator, his family, and the oligarchy of cronies he created. It violates the moral values we cherish, as a nation by rewarding wrong and making it seem right,” the group added.

The group also stated aloud some parts of the statement, “burying the dictator in LNMB buries solidarity by denying the pain and anguish of the many victims of human rights violations and their families, the misery of the poor who suffered most under Marcos’s development policies, and the sacrifices of those who fought to restore the country’s fallen democratic institutions.”

“It will undermine peace by erasing the memory of the violence that his regime inflicted on our nation. It will also lead to burying genuine empowerment by legitimizing the concentration of power in a single leader and the suppression of democratic rights and participation under his regime, and by negating the triumph of the empowered popular movement that unseated him.”