Group renews call for removal of Marcos remains from ‘Libingan’

An anti-Marcos group strongly opposed to the burial of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on Saturday reiterated its call for the exhumation and removal of the late dictator’s remains from the "heroes’ cemetery."

Members of the advocacy organization #BlockMarcos, in a joint statement, said that they remember November 18 as a day of outrage and of resistance, as the mark the first anniversary of the dictator’s burial with a protest action at the LNMB.

“We mark this day with a symbolic action to renew our call to unearth the dictator and all the remnants of tyranny that continue to haunt us until today. We relive the indignation we felt at the Marcoses’ callous desecration of our history and the memory of those who died fighting Marcos’ martial law,” the statement said.

#BlockMarcos also alluded to the present threat of the country’s regression into another dictatorship.

“We remember their shameless disregard for justice, lest we lose sight of our duty to confront the threat of a complete regress into dictatorship that we are now facing,” it added.

The group also renewed their call “for the end of elite democracy and for meaningful system change,” saying only a “genuine, people-centered democracy” will assure them that no dictator will rise to power again.

Marcos’ 20-year iron rule has been considered by many Filipinos as a "dark era" characterized by corruption and human rights violations.

“One year ago today, thousands of us gathered to tell the Marcoses and the Rodrigo Duterte administration that we would not take their vulgar abuse of power sitting down,” the statement said.

“We took to our Heroes’ Cemetery, our shrines and monuments, and our streets to assert that Ferdinand Marcos was not and will never be a hero. We reclaimed our public spaces to defend our history and our hard-earned rights and freedoms,” it added.

They also said their mobilization warned the powerful that they “would not hesitate to occupy our cities to block any threat of authoritarianism.”

The group concluded that they are not backing down from their fight.

“Today, we gather once again to remind this regime and its enablers that we will never grow tired of taking to the streets until Marcos’ remains -- and all the horrors of dictatorship that he symbolizes -- are exhumed from the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” the #BlockMarcos statement said.

Marcos LNMB burial

Ten days after the Supreme Court dismissed petitions seeking to overturn the government’s plan allowing the interment of the late dictator at the Libigan ng mga Bayani, his family had his body flown from Laoag, Ilocos Norte, to Taguig, where they held a surprise, private rites for the burial.

Separate appeals to overturn the SC's November 8, 2016 ruling sprung up, but the High Court held fast to its decision in August 2017.

Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989 due to lung, kidney, and liver complications, three years after his was ousted by the 1986 People Power uprising. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/LBG, GMA News