A CLASH OF TITANS , it will be when the Executive (President Rody Duterte) and the Judiciary (Supreme Court)  will finally tackle the issue whether the late president Marcos should be buried in the “Libingan ng mga Bayani ( Cemetery of Heroes)  or not.
Duterte prefers Marcos buried there -will he obey the Supreme Court if it says otherwise? Time and again the feisty president had claimed always  “he will follow the rule of law.”
As a private citizen, we say “No” to that proposed  honored burial.
For to  bury Marcos there among the nation’s heroes is to honor thievery and human rights violations. The thievery is embodied in a Switzerland Court Resolution indicating Marcos Swiss deposits should revert to the Filipino people. Of the US State Department of Justice and the Honolulu Court saying that the  monies of the Marcoses should be used to compensate the 10,000 Filipino human rights victims.
We did not say that; the foreign courts did. If we insist on obeying the ruling of a foreign court in The Hague on the China Sea issue- we should respect other international courts as well.
Through the local courts, the nation had legally recovered US$4-B worth of assets of Marcos and his cronies of the estimated US$10-B stolen from the nation by the Conjugal Kleptocracy-an estimated total +by  the Guinness Book of Records, not us.
When Marcos declared Martial Law- he took our freedom and promised to give us bread instead. At Martial Law’s end- we had lost  both  our bread and freedom.
When our own president Caloy Garcia was president, the Philippines was No 2 in wealth in Asia next to Japan. By the end of Martial Law, RP was the basket case of Asia and no bank wanted to touch us.
While the nation suffered, the First Lady of a poor Third World country made the old PNB as their piggy bank- withdrew therefrom and closed major department stores from the public in America so she could shop till the sun sets. The wealth could not  have come from Marcos’ lawyering because he was not a  hot shot lawyer- except in defending himself versus a  murder charge in the Nalundasan case,
The Marcoses claimed no wealth. Yet every time an attachment is done on their assets and properties- they would  contest it in court. Contest what is not yours? Marcos an achiever?
The reason he built more roads than any of his predecessors combined is simply because he had more years in power to do that (1965 to 1986) or 21 years while the other former presidents only had four years  (none reelected and one died in office). Besides, most of the concrete roads led to his Ilocos home region.
Imelda was known to have an “Edifice Complex” (to build monuments). But are the Cultural Center and the PICC within the reach of the poor? Without the endorsement of politicians, can the poor access the Heart ,Kidney and Lung centers? In her rush to entertain actors for an international film festival, scores died and buried in debris and cement at the “ghostly” Manila Film Center. Achievement?
True, Marcos was an elected president. But what honor does he  deserve if records show (per a former ally Primitivo Mijares  who was later murdered)  of documented 3,240 people killed, 70,000 illegal arrests and 35,000 tortured using the powers of the presidency? A hero?
Perhaps to the Ilocos region which Solita Monsod says is only 12 % of the Philippine population and Ilocos Norte where Marcos was born which even  has less population than Bohol has. Why don’t we ask the whole country what it thinks of Marcos, not just Ilocos?
If he is a real hero- why is the nation observing Feb 25 as a National Holiday- the day the country  kicked out a dictator at EDSA One? There is a lot of inconsistency there. A hero or villain?
It is good to honor a soldier? But first , be a soldier of honor,. The US Military men who were the Filipinos’ partners in World War II opined Marcos  faked all his so-called heroic war  exploits and medals and the National Historical Commission opined he even promoted himself as lieutenant-corner.And bury him ,thus, with military honors?
Will the 42,000 who died in the March of Bataan feel good to be buried beside Marcos? Even the authentic martyr-hero Ninoy Aquino is buried in an ordinary commercial cemetery in Paranaque. What of Marcos?
Even a Duterte supporter former senate president Aquilino Pimentel says that if Marcos is buried there -it should now be called “Libingan ng nga Bayani- AT IBA PA”. Apt, we think. The relatives of the buried presidents there- Quirino,Garcia and Macapagal- might want to transfer their beloved’s remains to a place elsewhere-and not be soiled in the same hectare with a president who has been disgraced and dishonored by People Power,  a  recognized world -wide sensational phenomenon-into a shameful involuntary exile.
It may be wrong to attribute the 14 million votes of Bongbong Marcos for VP as a vindication of the father. As the Marcoses themselves  chimed:the sins of the father should not descend on the father. So, neither should a son’s glory ascend and be imbibed by a dead father by some esoteric osmosis.
There is a popular motto of “forgive and forget”. The Case of the dictator Marcos , to us, is one that may be forgiven but not forgotten. For in so remembering, the sins shall not be committed again.
For, indeed, those who fail to remember history, are bound to repeat it. Watch out.