Martial Law victims call FM burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani a “supreme injustice,” petitions SC for TRO
19 August 2016
Martial Law victims call FM burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani a “supreme injustice,” petitions SC for TRO.
We, the victims of human rights violations and abuses during the Martial Law period, earnestly ask the Supreme Court to grant our petition against the implementation of Mr. Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The acts of ordering and implementing the burial of Mr. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and spending public funds for that matter, are tantamount to a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.
To honor a dictator is to dishonor his victims and their families.
It dishonors the survivors of torture, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, hamletting, dehumanization, forced exile, physical and psychological abuse. To accord him the pomp and pageantry of a hero’s burial is to dishonor the victims of murder, summary executions, forced disappearances and massacres whose only memorials are the grieving loved ones they left behind.
And to use public funds from the people’s hard-earned income for that purpose further aggrieves the surviving victims, including the petitioners, as Filipino citizens, human rights violations victims and taxpayers.
Our legislature has pledged billions in reparations to victims of human rights violations. Courts here and abroad, including the Honorable Supreme Court, have held the Marcoses guilty of ill-gotten wealth that is now the basis to vindicate the claims of their human rights victims.
To bury him at the Libingan, therefore, is to honor a plunderer and a thief found guilty of ill-gotten wealth by no less than this Honorable Court.
As we move forward from the dark days of Martial Law, crucial to our journey towards national healing and unity is to acknowledge and bring justice to the victims, not gloss over the abuses of their tormentors.
The dead may bury their own dead, but the darkest decades in our nation’s history must not culminate in the supreme injustice to the living.
The petitioners are:
1. LORETTA ANN PARGAS-ROSALES, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 130 13th Avenue, Murphy, Cubao, Quezon City, is the former Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. She was a former teacher at the José Rizal College who in 1976 was brought to a military safe house in Pasig where she was tortured. She was stripped naked, raped, suffered Russian Roulette, electric shock, strangulation, and candle burns. Her torturers only stopped when they thought she was dying. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and the years of the dictatorship and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
2. HILDA B. NARCISO, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 130 13th Avenue, Murphy, Cubao, Quezon City, is a licensed Acupuncturist, Reiki Healer and Therapist. She is currently a Board Member of Claimants 1081, Inc., an organization of Martial Law Human Rights Violation Victims who filed a class suit against the Marcos Estate in the Federal District of Hawaii. Hilda was visiting a friend’s home in Davao in 1983 when she was mistakenly taken by military men during the Marcos regime, on charges of conspiracy to commit rebellion. Her case was dropped two months after, but she stayed in prison for six months — six painful months when she was raped, tortured, and subjected to all kinds of abuse. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
3. AIDA F. SANTOS-MARANAN, Filipino, of legal age, with address at Bldg 15, Unit 41, BLP Condominium, Rd. 3 Brgy. Pag-asa, Quezon City 1105, was detained, tortured and raped in 1976-77 at MISG, Camp Crame. Bearing the stigma of rape, Aida Santos took almost ten (10) years to share with her husband, the sexual violence she suffered in detention during the Marcos dictatorship. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
4. JO-ANN Q. MAGLIPON, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 49 Mabait Street, Teachers’ Village, Quezon City 1101, is the Editor-in-Chief of Philippine Entertainment Portal. As a student, she wrote editorials against Marcos as features editor of the then Maryknoll College newspaper. When Martial Law was declared, she was arrested, intimidated and held incommunicado for eight (8) days in 1974. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
5. ZENAIDA S. MIQUE, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 10 Pulangui St., NPC Village, Pasong Tamo, Quezon City, is currently the Executive Director of Claimants 1081, Inc., an organization of Martial Law Human Rights Violation Victims who filed a class suit against the Marcos Estate in the Federal District of Hawaii. She was arrested in Santa, Ilocos Sur, tortured and detained for almost 2 years at Camp Diego Silang, San Fernando, La Union in 1979-1981. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
6. FE B. MANGAHAS, Filipino, of legal age, with address at Victoria Towers, 79 Panay Ave., Quezon City, is a retired history professor. She was dismissed from teaching and detained during Martial Law at Camp Aguinaldo. Arrested on 19 January 1973, Fe was temporarily released after two (2) days due to miscarriage during interrogation but had to report weekly in person for one (1) year. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
7. MA. CRISTINA P. BAWAGAN, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 130 13th Avenue, Murphy, Cubao, Quezon City, is a teacher at the Philippine Science High School, and currently a Board Member of Claimants 1081, Inc., an organization of Martial Law Human Rights Violation Victims who filed a class suit against the Marcos Estate in the Federal District of Hawaii. She was arrested in Nueva Ecija in 1981, tortured and sexually molested, detained for more than a month at Camp Olivas. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
8. MILA D. AGUILAR, Filipino, of legal age, and with address at 35 Marilag St., UP Village, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, was a political prisoner from August 8, 1984 to Feb. 25, 1986, and was in solitary confinement for 1.5 months, She is the widow of Magtanggol Roque, who was shot by military operatives in the nape in July 1981 in Davao City. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
9. MINERVA G. GONZALES, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 9 August St., Congressional Village Phase 1, Quezon City, is a former activist and widow of Jesus Fernandez, a former activist leader during Martial Law. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
10. MA. CRISTINA V. RODRIGUEZ, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 3 K-E Street, Kamuning, Quezon City, was arrested and put in prison twice by the Marcos regime in 1974 and 1983, and tortured by the arresting unit. She also filed a case against her torturers in 1975. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
11. FRANCISCO E. RODRIGO, JR., of legal age, Filipino, and a resident of Unit 802 A/B Andrea North Towers, 1 Balete Drive, Barangay Kaunlaran, New Manila, Quezon City, was detained by the military in 1978 for participating in a protest march to denounce the wholesale defraud committed by Marcos in the 1978 election for the members of the Interim Batasang Pambansa and kept in an isolation cell for twenty three (23) days. He is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
12. LOUIE G. CRISMO, Filipino, of legal age, with address at Block 27, Lot 29, Palmera Northwinds City Phase 2, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, lost a brother who was abducted during Martial Law and was never seen again despite years of search. He is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations during Martial Law and thus has every right to oppose the giving of military honors to, and the burial of, Marcos at the Libingan using government funds.
13. LIWAYWAY D. ARCE, Filipino, of legal age, with address at 609 B2 Wack Wack Twin Towers, Wack Wack Road, Mandaluyong City, is a member of Claimants 1081, Inc. and the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation. She is the daughter of the former Merardo T. Arce, an activist who was killed by the military in 1985. She is suing as a victim of State-sanctioned human rights violations that made her an orphan at a tender age and as a taxpayer who stands to be damaged by the illegal spending of public funds in the proposed interment of Marcos at the Libingan.
14. ABDULMARI DE LEON IMAO, JR., Filipino, of legal age, with address at Lot 7, Blk. 61 Torres Bugallon St. Brgy. Concepcion Uno, Marikina City, is a multi-media visual artist and the son of National Artist for Sculpture Abdulmari Asia Imao. He opposes the burial of Marcos at the Libingan as it would desecrate the honor of all that have been previously buried there, including his father who, as National Artist, was previously interred there. He is suing as a taxpayer who stands to be damaged by the illegal spending of public funds in the proposed interment of Marcos at the Libingan.