Big protest over Marcos burial set on November 25
Critics of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. will stage a massive protest in the afternoon of November 25 in opposition to his sudden burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The venues being chosen are Liwasang Bonifacio, Mendiola and Luneta Park in Manila and Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said on Saturday.
Representatives from various sectoral groups, students, teachers and other Marcos critics gathered at the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus in Quezon City where they mapped out their next steps after the surprise interment of Marcos' remains at the Heroes
Cemetery Friday noon.
The demonstration will be held after President Rodrigo Duterte arrives on Wednesday from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru.
They vowed to mobilize thousands by 4 pm on that day to send a strong message to Duterte, who has been supportive of burying Marcos.
"We will show the President that he is standing on the wrong side," Reyes said in a press conference.
"Even is he (Marcos) was already buried, we will not stop in spreading what happened in history."
More than 20 people who are victims and relatives of the people who suffered under Marcos' dictatorial rule were in the assembly They slammed the burial of a person responsible for their sufferings.
Human rights lawyer and former Senator Rene Saguisag, for his part, said not only the rule of law was buried with Marcos.
"I don't know what to teach anymore. The law is dead. Decency and honor were buried together with Marcos yesterday (Friday)," he said in an a brief interview.
He also slammed the Marcoses for proceeding with the burial and not await for the resolution of the Supreme Court on a motion for reconsideration.
Despite the setback, Saguisag urged the people to continue seeking justice. "The struggle goes on. The dream shall never die," he said.
In a twitter account, Renato Constantino Jr, chairman of the Constantino Foundation: said: “The Constantino Foundation joins the people’s disgust at this brazen attempt to create history.”
Quoting from a 1975 remark from his father, historian Renato Constantino Sr: : “in the end you cannot cheat history. History cannot err in its judgment because no matter how you fabricate achievements, glorify events, or conceal truths, a true people’s history will eventually unmask the fake heroes and the judgment among them will be severe.”
Former Bayan Muna party-list Congressman Satur Ocampo, a victim of Martial Law, chided Duterte for his support for the burial which he said is the exact opposite of the president's campaign slogan of Change is Coming.
"This is not the type of change. This is going back in the past... A bad dream, a bad experience which should have remained buried," Ocampo said.
Another Martial Law victim, Selda founding member Rodolfo del Rosario, said the burial has a bad effect on them who fought hard for the restoration of democracy. "This has a strong effect on us who suffered," he said.
Del Rosario, 80, urged the audience to stage weekly and even daily protests against what he said is an attempt to revise history. Emmanuel Tupas/DMS
