HEAVY MONSOON rains did not deter protesters who gathered at the foot of the Lapu-Lapu Monument at Rizal Park last Sunday for the Citizens’ Assembly against the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Around 150 people comprised the Ateneo’s official delegation to the event, according to Political Science Department lecturer Miguel Rivera. However, he said that the estimated number of protestors who identified themselves as affiliates of the Ateneo was at around 500. This number already includes faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

When asked about the presence of an Ateneo contingent at the assembly, Rivera said that the university has a history of student activism, exemplified by the 11 Atenean martyrs of the Martial Law era.

“Ateneo was really at the forefront of the fight against the dictatorship and the restoration of democracy, at the very least, the basic institutions of democracy,” he said.

He also said that the mobilization is an attempt to convince President Rodrigo Duterte to reverse his decision on the Marcos burial.

In a memo dated August 7, Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana authorized Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Ricardo R. Visaya to “undertake the necessary planning and preparations” for Marcos’ interment at the Libingan as compliance to Duterte’s “verbal order” to “implement his campaign promise.”

Sunday’s representation was the latest effort within the Ateneo community in support of the campaign against the dictator’s interment at the Libingan. Last August 12, the Sanggunian asked students to wear black to show their opposition to the decision.

The student government previously released a stand against the burial last July 16 and participated at the Duyan ng Magiting coalition launch last July 28.

“We have high hopes that what we did today, bringing a large contingent from the Ateneo, allows us to be more active, to make more noise, to not let things happen in our country without a word being said about it,” said Luis Enriquez (3 AB DS), a volunteer organizer.

Hero’s burial a ‘stab in the heart’

For those present at the assembly, many of whom were survivors or kin of those killed or detained during Martial Law, a Marcos burial at the Libingan opens fresh wounds and sends a wrong message to the nation.

Ricardo Reyes, a three-time political detainee under the Marcos regime and former national chairperson of Akbayan, said that the decision to bury the dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani was “very wrong.”

“It’s a stab in the heart of a generation of freedom fighters,” he said.

Fe Castillo, a member of the Families of Victims of Enforced Disappearances and whose husband was detained during the dictatorship, said she “cannot accept” the decision since the Marcoses refuse to the lack of accountability on the part of the Marcoses for the atrocities committed under their rule.

“Binaboy niya [Marcos] ang ibig sabihin ng ‘bayani’ (He [Marcos] desecrated the meaning of ‘hero,’” she said.

Castillo pointed out that the demonstration is not against the president himself, but for his decision to allow the burial at the Libingan.

‘Wrong message’

Several lawmakers who were present at the Luneta took the opportunity to voice out their opposition to this decision.

While Sen. Leila de Lima acknowledged that the burial had a legal basis, she said that there is a clear distinction between something that legal and something mandated by law.

“It allows the burial…but it does not really mandate. So, if somebody is not worthy, even if he happens to be a former president, a former soldier, a former dignitary…then why bury him there?” she said.

She maintained that it is morally wrong to allow the dictator’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “How can we allow the burial of someone who has done so much misery to our country during the dark era of Martial Law? All of those violations of human rights, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, abduction, et cetera; these are high crimes. And he stole billions from the nation’s coffers. So, is that a hero?” she said.

Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat asserted that the burial itself will send a negative message to the next generation of Filipinos.

“Much more than the burial itself, it’s the message that we are giving to the young, to the next generation: That in the Philippines, okay lang magnakaw, pumatay (it is alright to steal and kill). Okay lang maging diktador, patatawarin ka eh (It is alright to be a dictator, they’ll forgive you anyway)…That’s the message when people say ‘let’s move on, let’s have closure and healing,’ but that’s the wrong kind of healing process,” he said.

Fidel Fababier, secretary general of Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers, shared the same sentiments. “Lalong pinapalabo nito sa isip ng mga kabataan ang mga tunay na nangyari. (The burial further confuses the youth on what really happened then.),” he said.

Going beyond Marcos

The burial is seen as part of what some are calling as a Marcos restoration. Some Filipinos have harkened back to the days of the dictatorship, calling it a “golden era” of progress.

But according to Zeena Manglinong, coordinator of the Women and Gender Program and member of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, many of the economic problems the country have inherited were created during the Marcos years.

She said that Marcos incurred “many illegitimate” and “fraudulent” debts and was responsible for the Automatic Appropriations Law, which mandates that a part of the budget be automatically set aside for the payment of debts and interests. Some have called for this law’s repeal so that funds allocated for debt servicing will be directed instead towards more pressing needs.

In a 2005 report, IBON Foundation estimated that debt incurred under the Marcos regime will be shouldered by Filipino taxpayers well into 2035. The same report also noted that at least 33 percent of the money meant for social programs and infrastructure development were pocketed by Marcos and his cronies.

“That’s why we’re here because we are reminding people [that] Marcos was a dictator…Marcos was a plunderer. Hanggang ngayon pinagbabayaran natin ‘yun, bawat Pilipino, even you millennials. (Until now, every Filipino is still paying these debts, even you millenials.),” Manglinong said.

But beyond a nostalgia for the “golden age,” Rivera said that the prevalence of such sentiments is a reaction to the realities of post-EDSA society.

“These frustrations, it is simply not a case of forgetting. Revisionism, and as well as being an outright loyalist, has deep roots in economic realities and failures of democratic institutions to provide for the ordinary Filipino,” Rivera said.

According to Rivera, this is a challenge that Ateneans must understand.

“Kaya kailangan natin makita ‘yung (That’s why we need to see the) link between the two because, even if the Ateneo is at the forefront of activism during Martial Law, it is now perceived to be a very elite institution that is in favour of the status quo, an institution that seeks to maintain this status quo. So we have to ask ourselves: how have we become that and how can we combat that?” he said.

With reports from Thea A. Siscar