02308: #NeverAgain #MarcosIsNOTaHero

Image ganked from Rappler

In a surprise move, the Marcos family was able to secure arrangements to bury the body of former dictator and president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery). There had been no public announcements made about the burial nor was media allowed into the cemetery grounds during the burial proceedings. Initially the Office of the President claimed that the administration did not have any knowledge of the burial plans but of course given the fact that government resources were utilized to move the body and secure the area, it was obvious that orders had come from on high to proceed with the burial.

As much as the Supreme Court had ruled in favor with respect to the burial, the decision was not considered final and executory given appeals were still underway. The fact that the Marcos family went to such lengths to somewhat stealthily and speedily bury him before more resistance or outcry could be raised is already quite suspect and also indicative of their fear of reprisal.

To the average working Filipino trying to go home tonight, the snap protest actions in Makati, Katipunan and other areas leading to a greater gathering at the People Power Monument along Edsa may be viewed as an inconvenience. But at the same time I'd like to think most of us recognize that this outcry is important. A great wrong was done today and people need to express this dissatisfaction with this decision and the greater implications of today's events. Today is a potential turning point in our history as a country with respect to how the Marcos dictatorship will be viewed. And many of us pledge never to forget the atrocities of the Martial Law years and the accountability the Marcos family still has for all those who died and suffered under their regime.

Image ganked from GMA News

There's also the risk that today's protest actions will somehow be used as grounds for suspending the writ of habeas corpus or to even declare Martial Law once more, as President Duterte has repeatedly mentioned to the press in recent months. After all, were still supposedly under a State of Emergency that began as the nonsensical term of a "State of Lawless Violence". It's not totally unrealistic to think that a return to Martial Law is that big an impossibility.

That freedoms we enjoy today were earned through a lot of blood, sweat, grit and sacrifice and we'd be fools to allow the sins of the past to be forgotten like that. The Marcos supporters argue that people need to stop living in the past and just move on. But this isn't moving on - this is trying to dismiss all the lives lost and the money stolen from the country. This is trying to forget the abuses of the past with the Marcoses refusing to apologize or even acknowledge their wrongdoings or their accountability for all that had happened before.

So no, we will not forget. We will make sure that people remember the horrors of the past so they may learn from it and ensure history does not repeat itself. Things may seem grim now with the Marcos family reaping the rewards of their support for Duterte's presidency, but there's still a lot of fight left. And we will never stop fighting.