We’re sure there are more than four reasons why former Philippine president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos should not be buried in the presence of real heroes at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB, Heroes’ Cemetery).
Just count all the human rights violations during his term. If you can.
But believe it or not, despite strong opposition from human rights groups and a sizable number of concerned Filipinos, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the burial of the late dictator at the LNMB.
READ: Former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani on Sep 18
In response to this, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) cites four very important reasons why Marcos doesn’t deserve the honor of resting peacefully in the sacred grounds of the Heroes’ Cemetery.
On Jul 12, 2016, the NHCP published a detailed study on Marcos’ claims, aptly titled Why Ferdinand E. Marcos Should Not Be Buried At The Libingan Ng Mga Bayani, “as part of its mandate to conduct and disseminate historical research and resolve historical controversies. (Section 5 and 7, R.A. 10086).”
As written on NHCP’s official Facebook page, they strongly oppose the burial of Marcos at the LNMB and cited the following:
1. Mr. Marcos lied about receiving the U.S. Medal of Honor, Silver Star, and Order of the Purple Heart, which he claimed as early as about 1945.
2. His guerrilla unit, the Ang Mga Maharlika, was never officially recognized and neither was his leadership of it.
3. U.S. officials did not recognize Mr. Marcos’s rank promotion from Major in 1944 to Lt. Col. by 1947.
4. Some of Mr. Marcos’s actions as a soldier were officially called into question by upper echelons of the U.S. military, such as his command over the Allas Intelligence Unit (described as “usurpation”), his commissioning of officers (without authority), his abandonment of USAFIP-NL presumably to build an airfield for Gen. Roxas, his collection of money for the airfield (described as “illegal”), and his listing of his name on the roster of different units (called a “malicious criminal act”).
The NHCP adds, “Mr. Marcos’s military record is fraught with myths, factual inconsistencies, and lies,” pointing out that the rule in history is that when a claim is disproven, the said claim should be dismissed.
“A doubtful record also does not serve as sound, unassailable basis of historical recognition of any sort, let alone burial in a site intended, as its name suggests, for heroes,” the NHCP wrote.
*mic drop*
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