On the lawful burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani

Let's not play with semantics here, people. The only viable, not to mention loud, argument protesters have against his burial is that he is no hero, and as such he does not deserve to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

It's called "Libingan ng mga Bayani" for that purpose, right? Wrong.

Burying Marcos on LNMB is in no way meant to insult those who died during the Martial Law era, but to simply uphold the law. That same law, incidentally, did not say that he cannot be buried there nor did it define the word "hero" the way you wanted it to.

The guidelines on who can be buried there stated that the following are eligible:

-Medal of Valor awardees
-Presidents or commander-in-chief, AFP
-Secretaries of national defense
-AFP chiefs of staff
-Generals/flag officers of the AFP
-Active and retired military personnel of the AFP (including active draftees and trainees who died in line of duty, and active reservists and CAFGU Active Auxiliary who died in combat-related activities)
-Former members of the AFP who laterally entered or joined the ---Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police
-Veterans of Philippine Revolution of 1890, World War I, World War II, and recognized guerrillas
-Government dignitaries, statesmen, national artist and other deceased persons whose interment and re-interment has been approved by the commander-in-chief, Congress or the secretary of national defense
-Former presidents, secretaries of defense, dignitaries, statesmen, national artists, widows of former presidents, secretaries of national defense and chief of staff.

The exception to these of course are those who are dishonorably discharged from service or have been CONVICTED of an offense of moral turpitude.

FM was neither. He was not dishonorably discharged during the so-called People Power for he resigned. And, after all these years, he is yet to be convicted of all the crimes committed during his regime.

I won't urge people to move on or forget. A loss is painful, especially when it's your loved ones. But let's sober up and be clear here: The law doesn't work to please your feelings, it is there simply to be upheld.

Dura lex sed lex. The law may be harsh, but it is the law.


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Ronn Zantua as posted on Facebook.