Alunan: Duterte decision on Marcos burial 'a bad miscalculation'

President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to bury the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani was a "bad miscalculation," former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III said on Tuesday.

While made with the underlying goal to unite the nation, Duterte's decision to allow the burial instead widened the gap, according to Alunan.

"I believe that his overriding consideration was in good faith to close the chapter on FM to unite the nation, just as he aims to forge peace settlements with all rebel groups for national unity to face the diverse security threats we face requiring "whole-of-nation" focus and resolve," Alunan wrote in a Facebook status.

"Unfortunately, in my assessment, it was a bad miscalculation because instead of closing the gap, it widened it all the more as the wounds apparently didn't heal despite the passage of 30yrs since FM's ouster in '86," he added.

The remains of Marcos were buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani last Friday, 10 days after the Supreme Court ruled to dismiss the consolidated petitions seeking to stop it.

The surprise rites sparked mass protests across the nation, as victims of human rights abuses during the Martial Law regime protested the burial.

Alunan said that the wounds caused by Marcos' "misrule" didn't heal because the Marcos family never acknowledged, or atoned for the damage it caused.

"...the Marcos family failed to acknowledge the damage of almost 21yrs of misrule to the nation; and, failed to atone for it with proper indemnification," Alunan said.

"It is a fact of life anywhere in the world that there can be no peace without appropriate justice; no mercy and compassion without atonement,' he added.

Alunan, who was DILG Secretary under President Fidel Ramos, was the one who signed the agreement with Imelda Marcos allowing the return of Marcos' remains to Ilocos.

He stressed that the agreement "reeked of bad faith" because the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two parties had stated that the remains would be buried in Ilocos. Imelda later revised the terms to "temporarily interred."

Having witnessed the Marcos controversy, which now spans 48 years, Alunan noted that the Marcos family respected the MOU up until the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.

However, he also said that in order to "move on," the wrongs must first be righted with justice.

Alunan said that one way for Duterte to mitigate his miscalculation was to create common ground: a pantheon for Presidents separate from the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

"He can cause LEDAC to approve the creation of a distinct and exclusive pantheons for Presidents under the National Historical Commission, separate from the LNB which is under the DND-AFP. It may not close the gap entirely but that would be factual common ground that no one could argue about," he suggested. —Jessica Bartolome/JST, GMA News