Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

Rms. 310-311, Philippine Social Science Center Building

Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, 1103 Quezon City Philippines
Telefax: 00-632-4546759 Mobile 00-63-9177924058
Email afad@surfshop.net.ph website www.afad-online.org

AFAD Statement
13 April 2011

Honoring Marcos: A Distortion of History

The House Resolution No. 1135, reviving the desperate move to bury the late-dictator
Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is betraying the Filipino people with its
distortion of history and is insulting our very dignity as a nation.

The resolution which has already been signed by more than 200 members of the House of
Representatives manifests a shameful ignorance of our nation’s history. It tramples on the
collective dignity of the Filipino people especially of those who valiantly struggled during
the dark days of Martial Law, some of whom suffered persecution and consequently lost
their lives. The late Senator Benigno Aquino was among them.

It is quite an irony to give Marcos a “hero’s burial” while granting the victims of human
rights violations symbolic compensation from his ill-gotten wealth. The dictator Marcos,
accused of committing widespread human rights abuses and looting billions of dollars from
state coffers during his 20-year dictatorship, was judged guilty of human rights violations
by US Federal Courts.

We protest the treacherous act of these 200 lawmakers in resolving to allow Marcos to be
buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Burial) in the guise of magnanimous
reconciliation. It is a betrayal of history and a deprivation of the future generation of their
right to know the truth. Marcos, who died unrepentant of his wrongful deeds while his
heirs and scions continue to stay in power with total impunity and ironically maintain
grandiose display of luxuries, never deserves forgiveness.

How can we forgive when thousands of victims of human rights violations during his more
than two-decade rule continue to endure the pain and sufferings and are still seeking for
justice?

How can we forget when the country is still burdened with illegitimate debt due to his
plundering?

Giving Marcos the honor and forgiveness will only coagulate the existing climate of
impunity that allows perpetrators to escape responsibility for their crimes.

The 200 senators who signed the said resolution have no right to exonerate Marcos for the
sins he committed against the Filipino people. Perpetrators of human rights violations like
him should have asked for forgiveness and do the necessary reparation and redress in
order to re-dignify the victims. Without justice, genuine reconciliation is never possible.

We, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances cannot allow the memory of
those who disappeared, tortured and killed during Martial law to be obliterated from
history by honoring the very dictator who ordered these human rights violations to be
committed in the name of national security.

We will never cease in our struggle against forgetting. We will never let our nation
succumb to oblivion.

We are therefore calling on the lawmakers who signed the said House resolution to
withdraw their signatures and warning them never to distort our history.

We also call on Pres. Benigno Aquino III to be true to his words during his inaugural speech
when he said that reconciliation can only happen when justice is first rendered. He owes it
to his parents, he owes it to the Filipino people.

The road to genuine reconciliation is not an obliteration of our dark past. It should take
into consideration the revelation of the truth that guarantees accountability. To heal the
wounds of the nation is to accept the responsibility of what happened and ensure that such
atrocities will never happen again!

Signed and authenticated by:

MUGIYANTO MARY AILEEN BACALSO

Chairperson Secretary-General