Marcos doesn’t deserve Libingan ng mga Bayani burial – Leni

MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo opposed moves to have the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig.

Robredo said Marcos does not deserve to be interred at the heroes’ cemetery since the name alone denotes who should be buried there.

“I don’t agree with that because only those deserving should be buried there — Filipinos who contributed much and who are role models for each of us,” Robredo told reporters in Bulacan over the weekend.

“The question now is whether or not the late President Marcos is deserving to be buried there. Was he an exemplary Filipino who gave his life, who sacrificed so much for our country? I don’t think he was,” the Camarines Sur representative said.

She said there should be no “special treatment” regarding the issue, apparently referring to long-standing calls from the Marcos family to have the late leader buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Among Robredo’s rivals in the vice presidential race is the son and namesake of the late strongman, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is faring well in the surveys.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez, spokesman for the LP-led Daang Matuwid coalition, meanwhile hit independent presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe for being open to have Marcos buried at the heroes’ cemetery.

“A leader must be willing to make difficult decisions. Is this the kind of leadership we can expect from Senator Poe? In an issue of great importance to our nation and history, she would pass the buck to someone else? Is Marcos a hero to her? Marcos, who tortured and murdered thousands? Who stole billions of dollars from the treasury? Who brought our economy down and drove millions of Filipinos into poverty? Senadora, make a stand,” Gutierrez said in a statement.

When asked if President Aquino’s successor should also reject proposals to give a hero’s burial for the elder Marcos, Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said: “President Aquino’s decision is based on his firm belief and conviction on the primacy of justice. The late President Marcos never apologized for the violence and oppression that characterized martial law and the dictatorship. – With Alexis Romero