[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’‘Not easy to move on from martial law’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MERIANNE GRACE EREÑETA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – Around a hundred students and several members of progressive groups yesterday sought to enlighten the public on what happened during martial law under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
They also protested the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery).
“It is not easy to move on” from the pains that martial law caused Filipinos at the time, a student leader told Panay News.
The protesters gathered at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Iloilo City campus. The “indignation rally” on Friday was organized by the UPV College of Management Student Council.
“It is very alarming talaga na karamihan sa kabataan ngayon, hindi sila na-inform [about] what happened during” martial law, the student council chairperson John Marlou Salido told this reporter.
Most of the youth today agree with the order of President Rodrigo Duterte and the Supreme Court decision, he claimed.
“Maraming nagsasabi na, ‘Sige, ilibing niyo siya para sa national peace, national healing,’” Salido said. “You could not achieve healing simply by burying him” at the Heroes’ Cemetery.
For the student leader, the Supreme Court had a wrong opinion on the matter.
“Parang binigyan natin ng weapon iyong Marcos loyalists, ng justification na pwede nilang ipagtanggol si Marcos,” he said. “Parang walang kwenta ang 1986 People Power kapag ganyan.”
He added: “It’s fine to ask the Supreme Court, (but) minsan iyong legal does not necessarily mean iyon iyong moral. Minsan parang pinupulitika rin.”
The protesters also lighted candles at the university’s gate on Infante Street, Molo district for the victims of human rights violations during martial law.
Members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Panay, Karapatan and League of Filipino Students joined the rally.
On Nov. 8 the Supreme Court voted 9-5 to dismiss the consolidated petitions against Duterte’s order to afford Marcos a hero’s burial.
Associate justices Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Jose Perez, Teresita de Castro, Jose Mendoza, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe favored Marcos’ burial at the Libingan.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and associate justices Marvic Leonen, Francis Jardeleza and Benjamin Caguioa dissented.
Atty. Theodore Te, the high court spokesperson, read part of the decision on Tuesday.
“There are certain things that are better left for history — not this court — to adjudge. The court could only do so much in accordance with clearly established rules and principles,” Te said.
“Beyond that, it is ultimately for the people themselves, as the sovereign, to decide — a task that may require the better perspective that the passage of time provides. In the meantime, the country must move on and let this issue rest,” he said./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
