Burying Marcos at LNMB is tantamount to "historical revisionism"

PRESS RELEASE
August 10, 2016


BURYING MARCOS IN LNMB IS 'HISTORICAL REVISIONISM'

President Duterte's decision to have the former dictator buried in the national heroes cemetery is tantamount to negating the atrocities of the martial law regime.

"It is like the Orwellian fictional story 1984 where big brother dictates the truth and perpetuates deception by negating the contradictions of the past," Akbayan party list Rep Tom Villarin said.

The dystopian novel by George Orwell portrays a fictional government where a truth ministry continually revises public records to conform to contemporary political exigencies dictated by a party leader called Big Brother.

"The National Historical Commission of the Philippines, a body tasked to inculcate awareness and appreciation of noble deeds and ideals of our heroes through lessons in history have already concluded that Marcos was never a hero. Yet we still want him buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani?," the Akbayan solon added.


The NHCP came out recently with a 17-page report titled "Why Ferdinand Marcos should not be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani" where it detailed Mr. Marcos's military records as "fraught with myths, factual inconsistencies, and lies." Marcos as a soldier who fought heroically in World War 2 never happened thus the NHCP said it opposes the planned burial of Marcos in the national heroes cemetery.

"Historical revisionism should never be allowed to happen. This will set a dangerous precedent of denying our people the true lessons of history where crimes against humanity were committed by the Marcos dictatorship but glossed over by the present dispensation," Villarin added.

Villarin urged government to instead focus its effort in educating the youth of the lessons of martial law and never to let it happen again as mandated by RA 10368 or the Human Rights Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.

Human rights victims led by former Commission on Human Rights chair Etta Rosales will file a case in the Supreme Court for an injunction to stop the planned burial.