National Historical Commission chairman resigns over Marcos burial
The head of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines resigned from her post over differences on the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos, according to statement on Tuesday.
Maria Serena Diokno said she has tendered her resignation as chairman of the commission effective Thursday and added she will join the protest over Marcos’ burial at the national heroes cemetery on Wednesday at the People Power Monument.
Diokno thought she could stay at the commission “and protect our history from those in and out of government who attempt to deface it.”:
“But at this moment in our history, every voice counts, and I wish to place mine on the side of history; not the history that the Duterte government ignores, but the history that beckons our people to demand justice that even the highest court will not bestow,” she said.
“The burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is wrong; it denies our History, erases the memory of lives lost and destroyed, mocks the collective action we took to oust the dictator, and denigrates the value of our struggle for freedom,” said Diokno in a statement.
Although nine Supreme Court justices, adopting what Diokno called a “narrow view” voted to dismiss petitions against Marcos’ burial, she said President RodrigoDuterre could have taken the “higher ground.”
“But he chose not to. Worse, he justifies his ‘legalistic’ action by claiming, falsely that ‘there’s no study, no movie about it (Marcos’ record as leader), just the challenges and allegations of the other side,” said Diokno
Marcos, whose family and associates fled during the 1986 EDSA Revolution, died in Hawaii in 1989. His body was brought back a few years later and has remained in a refrigerated crypt in Ilocos Norte.
A few days after the Supreme Court voted to dismiss the petitions against Marcos’ burial, the former dictator was buried on November 8 with the press getting wound of it almost two hours before the ceremony. DMS
