The Marcos family has made
headlines again after having the former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the
cemetery where soldiers, presidents and others with bestowed honors are buried.
These caused the happiness among loyalists and dismay among those who are
against the burial.
(The
Pitzviews Note: This article is in its neutralist form of presenting viewpoints
which is the main aim of this blog site. False Dichotomy is highly discouraged
in the blog site’s viewpoints since it defeats the course of discussion. Ad
Hominems and Ad Ignorantiam arguments are also discouraged. It is here to balance,
and analyze the given situation based on what is out in the open. Spread love,
not hate.)
BACKGROUND
OVERVIEW
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| The Burial. Via update.ph |
The story is all about a leader
who declared Martial Law in order to preserve the country at that time from the
insurgents such as the newly-formed New People’s Army (NPA) which is an armed
branch of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The period is
considered by several people as the darkest periods the Philippines have ever
seen where stringent military rules are applied. That means, it suppress the
so-called freedom of expression, movement, and several others. The good side of
that instills discipline on the people that it is part of the better plans of
the so-called new society. However, there are reports of killings and missing
persons which are by nature, unexplainable since there are no specifics so as
for that.
Now at present day situations
which the main issue is given. On a Friday noon of November 18, 2016, the
Marcos family surprisingly announced that the burial of the former President to
be done on that day in the Libingan ng
Mga Bayani, or Heroes’ Cemetery. This is after the decision made by the
Supreme Court that the said burial is legal under the duress of the law. Such
kind of surprises gives a mix of reactions among the people. There are some who
are crying with happiness and joy so as the issue about the atrocities of the
past will be gone buried along with his corpse with the hopes of moving on to the things that are done
during the Martial Law and instead looking forward to a brighter future being a
Pro Philippines (ProPH). The others meanwhile are angry where these people
protested with their own various means. Unprepared activists gone to the
cemetery to show their dismay where there is no clear organization given the
quick time of the announcement. Various schools, prominently Christian, also
participated in the protests that makes them the targets of flak from the
people in the social media given the gravity of the events and the nature of
the arguments given by both side, especially on the alleged faults of the
Martial Law years that may seen as obscured considering that several cases have
dismissed both in local and international courts.
Given the highlighted situation
that this issue faces today in the extent of the nation’s face as well as the
citizen’s collective thoughts about the issue itself based on various
preferences, let us unravel and analyze the decision, the event and the dilemma
with regards to the burial of the ex-president whom the against called “the
dictator.”
ANALYSIS
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| The former President. Photo from GetReal Philippines. |
It all started from the
declaration of Martial Law in September of 1972. The country at that time is
plagued with violent protests and numerous bombings which included the Plaza
Miranda bombing which caused several casualties among those who participated in
a Liberal Party campaign there at that time. Accordingly to several historical
accounts, which are allegedly fabricated by the succeeding administration as
per the loyalists, the regime is renowned to have numerous human rights
violations which are ranging from tortures of various types to number of
disappearances of several people as well as the number of unknown killings in
that period.
Accordingly, the decision was
moved and declared for preservation of democracy in the light of communist
movements in the region at that time. It was known that Vietnam War is on its
climax at that time, communist insurgents in the country are on the rise as
well as the Moro secessionist movements in the south. Citing the law for
insurrection, rebellion and other notable causes that are grounded for such
decision, it was no doubt that the declaration has made in the sense that
violence shall be oppressed by all means, by both the military and its
constabulary branch (police).
Legally speaking, the martial
law is indeed justified due to given provisions by law in order to preserve law
and order in the whole nation. This is for suppressing violators as well as
communists where allegedly in the process have the plans to create a communist
state emulating the likes of China at that time citing Maoism ideology.
However, these may come at the down side. Many oppressed per se considered this
as “morally unjust” that there are accordingly several innocent people fell
victim to the regime’s prowess of power. Those accounts pertaining to such
atrocities can be found across the internet through a search engine or
probably, on several reputable media outlets where several people branded them
as “unreliable.”
Going to the present situations
today, the burial simply had taken place. It is then noted that the former
president is not allowed to go home back to the Philippines under the
administration of ex-Pres. Cory Aquino. Thereafter that, ex-Pres Marcos died in
Hawaii at that time on Sept. 28, 1989. The body was allowed to send home as per
permission from then-president Fidel Ramos. Somewhere under the administration
of Estrada, there comes the idea of having the so-called dictator to be buried
in the Heroes’ Cemetery. Such idea was scrapped due to intense opposition at
that time. It was then ignored by the President Noynoy Aquino under his tenure
where the plea is ignored. But everything changed upon the administration of
President Duterte where he promised that the burial will be made soon. These
agreements made several people who are against the burial appeal to the Supreme
Court which at first implemented an Ante-order to delay it. Then, the same
justices voted in favor to the
allowing the former president Marcos to bury in the cemetery in the decision of
9 favoring versus 5 who disapproved. These are under the provisions that the
prerequisite on having such burial is to be a soldier or a distinguished public
official with the exception of anything morally concern thereof. From there
then, the rest is history.
From these first four
paragraphs, we are will now weighing the sides of the argument plus several
other things that are not included in those points given. The decision was made
in accordance to its legality where the Supreme Court decided that it is the
Marcos family can bury the former president in the Heroes’ Cemetery intended
for the soldiers of the armed forces. It is not dismissible to the fact that he
himself was a soldier at that time fighting against the Japanese Occupation during
the Second World War as a guerilla fighter. He being the president under his
tenure is also another requisite for him to get buried in the said cemetery in
which under his term there are many infrastructure projects have made. Some of those
projects implemented are the North Luzon Expressway, the South Luzon
Expressway, San Juanico Bridge, Lung Center of the Philippines, Kidney Center,
Basilan State College, Western Mindanao State University, among others. The
main issue about him are two, primary things: first, the abuses of martial law
and second, the ill-gotten wealth incurred by them.
In the first one, it is
well-known that martial law was implemented with the explanations given on the
third paragraph in this analytical subtopic. The main point for implementation
is to oppress violence that harms the nation in general so as also to enhance
order in the society which is badly needed to implement in. Hence, the point of
those so-called victims of the regime having their rights abused can be seen as
defying or being a staunch critic of the government at that time where it is
indistinguishable with the communists where it can be justified, not to mention
that several violators undertake some harsh punishments in the process where
one can say that they play victim, citing human rights albeit the wrong doings.
In the second one meanwhile, the so-called ill-gotten wealth are gone blurry
due to the thing that the ex-president was already rich before rising into
power. Thos are, according to numerous conspiracy theories ranging from Yamashita
gold to the Tallano version of it saying that they gathered portions of gold
bullion deposited on numerous accounts in several banks across the world.
Speaking of these, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) are
filing cases under Pres. Cory Aquino’s tenure where these numerous cases are
dismissed which all are favorable to the Marcoses, signifying that allegations
of plunder of government wealth are deemed false.
Speaking with these, there are supporting documents in such a matter about the
bill of lading and other necessary documents to support their claim. Despite
all those, several amounts of that wealth are returned to the National Treasury
in several given amounts coming from the Swiss banks (amounts given are varied
according to several sources, and such allegations therein are also dismissible
as some sort of “hoax” given the reports.)
Putting all of these things in
summary, the issue in itself hangs in the balance between its morality and
legal matters considering that such kind of decisions really give mixed
reactions among the people. Moreover, there is one big thing that is ascertain
about this issue, which is it creates more division among the people than
uniting altogether. The consideration in this matter is that albeit the
messages that people concerned must be move on or simply just stay silent
because they didn’t experience martial law at that time, the messages of the
other side about crying foul can be considered in this country which promotes
freedom of expression. Moreover to that, the idea of national healing is indeed
an ideal thing where people can forgive and look forward to the progress of the
nation. That is somewhat the victims cannot simply accept on. There is somehow
some sort of justice where such atrocities may bear true. Albeit the
responsibilities of the Constabulary and the Military about the kinds of
inhumane acts given, one can say that one can blame it all on the President
since he was the commander-in-chief of the whole armed forces. But then again,
take note that there are just several people within the group who did all of
those nasty things which in the end the president can bear although he is not
the one who implement it. Such things shall be clarified and given attention,
and on the events like the burial, there are matters that need to be settled on
so that the issue about it will definitely end once and for all.
CONCLUSION
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| A protester from the event. |
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