Martial law survivor asks SC to reverse Marcos burial

MANILA - Martial Law survivor and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman has asked the High Court to reverse the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on behalf of the desaparecidos or those who went missing at the height of the dictatorship.

In a statement, Lagman said, ""It is not hard to comprehend that the interment of Marcos in the Cemetery of Heroes is inextricably intertwined with the late dictator's imposition of martial law which spawned inordinate oppression, corruption and plunder for 14 ignominious years and even beyond."

"It is not difficult to understand that allowing his burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is a veritable honor accorded to a disgraced President and Commander-in-Chief who was deposed by the sovereign people for having committed grievous sins against the Filipino people as acknowledged by no less than the Honorable Supreme Court in a number of landmark decisions and validated by foreign judicial tribunals."


Lagman said Marcos' burial is an impediment to the continuing quest for justice for the victims of martial law, adding that it "perpetuates the impunity of his transgressions and mocks the unfinished task of recovering his hoard of ill-gotten wealth."

"These are the very reasons why the Marcos burial in LNMB transcends politics. These are the very reasons why President Duterte's policy on burying Marcos in the LNMB is not a political question which is beyond the judicial scalpel to excise.

"These are the very reasons why such a policy is flawed and its implementation is tainted with gross abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction because it violates the Constitution, relevant statues and pertinent decisions of the Honorable Supreme Court, all of which are justiciable.

"It is not remote to realize that the Marcos burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is a gross distortion, a malevolent revision and a wanton derogation of Philippine history."

 Lagman invoked the following grounds for reconsideration:

1. Marcos' burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) will not lead to closure.

2. AFP Regulations G 161-375 dated September 11, 2002 issued by the Department of National Defense is not effective and enforceable, and consequently, it could not be the basis for the interment of Marcos in the LNMB.

3. There are laws and Supreme Court decisions which militate against and effectively prohibit the Marcos burial in the LNMB.

4. The message of the EDSA people power revolution is clear and resounding: Marcos was ousted for being a despot, plunderer and violator of human rights.

5. When the totality of Marcos as a man is weighed in the balance, whatever achievements he has done for the country are completely nullified by his cardinal sins against the nation, for which he is not entitled to be buried in the LNMB.

6. The Marcos family had waived his burial in the LNMB 24 years ago.

7. The petitions do not involve a political question, which is an almost extinct invocation.

8. Respondents committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

9. Petitioners have legal personality to file cases, did not violate the "hierarchy of courts" doctrine, and did not have to exhaust administrative remedies.

10. Ferdinand Edralin Marcos does not deserve the honor of being interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani even as a former President and soldier per se.

Lagman said that no closure would be achieved if it is at the expense of the victims of the brutalities and corruption of Marcos' martial law regime, and for the hollow gratification and flawed vindication of a tyrant and his heirs.

He added that the speed and stealth by which the Marcos burial was carried out by the immediate members of the Marcos family shows their incorrigible addiction to deception, underhandedness and abuse, which the Supreme Court must never condone.


According to Lagman, the majority decision erred in solely basing the burial of Marcos in the LMNB on AFP Regulations G 161-375 because the said issuance by the Department of National Defense is not effective and enforceable for absence of registration with the Office of the National Administrative Registrar (ONAR) of the University of the Philippine Law Center as required by the Administrative Code of 1987.

Lagman renewed his plea for the exhumation of "whatever was interred as Marcos mortal remains" at the LMNB on 18 November 2016 despite the lack of finality of the challenged Decision together with its ancillary directive lifting the Status Quo Ante Order.

He also prayed for the forensic examination on whatever is exhumed to determine what actually was buried at the LMNB.

He sought the reversal of the decision and the issuance of a writ of prohibition enjoining the public respondents from implementing the order of President Duterte on the Marcos burial.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Omega 12' behind Marcos' martial law - US envoy

MANILA - Twelve military officers personally handpicked by then President Ferdinand Marcos implemented Martial Law during his regime, according to a declassified diplomatic cable published online by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

And contrary to a popular urban legend, Marcos gave them Omega watches, not Rolexes, said then US Ambassador to Manila William Sullivan in a December 24, 1974 confidential memo to the US State Department.



Cable 1974MANILA15083_b, which was earlier released in the public domain by the US National Archives, identified the "Omega 12". They were:

    Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile,
    Philippine Constabulary chief Maj. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos,
    National Intelligence Security Authority chief Maj. Gen. Fabian Ver,
    Lt. Col. Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, Jr.
    Army chief Maj. Gen. Rafael Zagala,
    Constabulary vice-chief Brig Gen. Tomas Diaz,
    Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Espino,
    Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Jose Rancudo,
    Navy chief Rear Admiral Hilario Ruiz,
    ISAFP chief Brig. Gen. Ignacio Paz,
    Metrocom chief Brig Gen. Alfredo Montoya, and
    Rizal province Constabulary head Col. Romeo Gatan.

Sullivan said Marcos gifted the 12 with personally inscribed Omega watches during a private ceremony in Malacañang in 1973.

The 12 apparently took pride in the gold watches.

"The twelve had previously been rewarded and identified individually in private during September  1973 Malacañang ceremonies when Marcos presented each of them with a personally inscribed gold watch leading them subsequently to title themselves 'The Omega Band,'" the US ambassador's memo said.

Without specifically naming them, Marcos cited the "Omega 12" during his 1973 address to the Armed Forces.

A year later, Marcos publicly acknowleged their primary contributions to martial law.

"Marcos re-emphasized his need for military in awarding medals to stalwart twelve who he said planned martial law," Sullivan said, referring to the dictator's address to the Armed Forces in December 21, 1974.

"Marcos chose to decorate the twelve men of defense establishment whom he described as instrumental in deciding and implementing martial law," he added.

It marked the first time that Marcos publicly singled out and thanked the members of the "Omega 12" were their role during the dictatorship.

"There is no question now that their fortunes are even more tightly tied to those of the New Society," Sullivan said.

During the ceremonies, Marcos' wife Imelda was also given a special military award "signed by her least favorite Cabinet member, Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile, for her outstanding contributions to the New Society," the US envoy wrote.

Enrile and Ramos later launched an uprising against Marcos that led to the EDSA People Power revolution and the removal of the strongman from power.

Ramos would become Philippine president, beating fellow "Omega 12" member Cojuangco in the 1992 elections. Enrile would become Senate president.

Cojuangco, a cousin of former President Cory Aquino and uncle of current President Benigno Aquino III, would focus on business aside from politics. He is current chairman of San Miguel Corp.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Marcoses bared in new WikiLeaks files

MANILA - The ostentatious display of wealth by former President Ferdinand Marcos and former First Lady Imelda Marcos during the late strongman's rule in the 1970s left US embassy officials disgusted, according to newly published diplomatic cables released by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.


During a birthday, for example, Marcos had a "two-day blast carefully orchestrated by his wife Imelda" even if "officially controlled Manila press reported that president Marcos spent a quiet birthday at his desk," according to US embassy cable "1973MANILA10390_b" dated 1973 September 12, 1973.


The celebrations, attended by senior government and military officials, as well as by chiefs of diplomatic missions, eclipsed the funeral services of the late Rufino Cardinal Santos, which happened at the same time.

A parade, dinner, concert, floor show, and other events were held during Marcos' 2-day birthday celebration.

It was too much to bear for then US Ambassador to Manila William H. Sullivan.

Sullivan, in his confidential memo to the US Department of State, said the celebration was "too much, too long, and in questionable taste."

He said all top-ranking military officers, except for then Philippine Constabulary Chief Fidel V. Ramos, were required to "parade in garish female attire" during a floor show amid the festivities.

"This caused much grumbling among military hierarchy, and wives of service chiefs stood conspicuously in a grim, un-smiling phalanx throughout the hilarity," Sullivan said.

"This whole affair was a saccharine suffusion of sycophancy which reminded me unhappily of the heydays of Sukarno and Sihanouk," he added.

"Although Imelda was responsible, the president seemed to enjoy it and appeared unaware of the negative vibrations among his courtiers, especially the senior military, upon whom so much of his future programs will depend," he said.

"Only the Marcos children, to their credit, appeared embarrassed by the display," Sullivan said.

Around 16,000 memos of the US embassy in Manila from 1973 to 1976 are included in the around 1.7-million "Kissinger Files" cables published by WikiLeaks.

Some of the early memos discuss the Philippines' Sabah claim, the Moro unrest in Mindanao, as well as the Spratlys.

WikiLeaks, in an explanatory note, said the memos cover a variety of diplomatic traffic including cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence.

"They include more than 320,000 originally classified records, including 286,000 full US diplomatic cables. There are more than 12,000 documents with the sensitive handling restriction "NODIS", 'no distribution', and more than 9,000 labelled "Eyes Only". Full cables originally classed as "SECRET" total more than 61,000 and "CONFIDENTIAL" more than 250,000," it added.

It said the records were reviewed by the United States Department of State's 25-year declassification process.

"At review, the records were assessed and either declassified or kept classified with some or all of the metadata records declassified. Both sets of records were then subject to an additional review by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Once believed to be releasable, they were placed as individual PDFs at the National Archives as part of their Central Foreign Policy Files collection," Wikileaks said.

"Despite the review process supposedly assessing documents after 25 years there are no diplomatic records later than 1976. The formal declassification and review process of these extremely valuable historical documents is therefore currently running 12 years late," it added.

WikiLeaks said it obtained and reverse-engineered 1.7 million PDFs. It also performed a detailed analysis of the documents, "and corrected a great many errors introduced by NARA, the State Department or its diplomats, for example harmonizing the many different ways in which departments, capitals and people's names were spelled."

"Tens of thousands of documents were irreversibly corrupted in this data set due to technical errors when the documents were moved as computer systems were upgraded, or so the US Department of State claims. This caused the content of the document to be lost, though the metadata is still available," it said.

source: abs-cbnnews.com