LABOR and presidential aspirant Leody de Guzman has declared that he intends to have the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos removed from the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LMB) and shipped back to Ilocos Norte should he win next month’s presidential elections.
Speaking in an online forum with students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the Partido Lakas ng Masa standard bearer said the Duterte administration made of mockery of history when it accorded a hero’s burial for Marcos despite his record of abuse of power, raid on the nation’s coffers, and human rights violations.
“We should dig him up and haul his remains back to Ilocos Norte. We became a laughing stock for allowing a dictator who was booted out by the people to be honored with a place at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” he said.
De Guzman said it will serve as a warning for the country’s leaders who might harbor dictatorial tendencies.
“It will serve as a warning to those who might want to follow in his footsteps… who are probably thinking it is okay to be a dictator because one is assured of a hero’s burial anyway,” he said.
The PLM presidential bet also vowed to go after the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth and their billions in unpaid obligations to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
“We intended to go after Marcos but we there is no way we can do this if he (Marcos Jr.) is elected President,” De Guzman said.
He proposed to include lessons in high school and college levels about respect of human rights and the accurate depiction of what transpired during the Marcos Martial Law years from 1972 to 1981 to make the youth better informed and to protect them from misinformation on social media.
“There should be a factual narrative of what transpired (during Martial Law years). They should be printed in books and taught to high school and college students, side by side with lessons about human rights. We need our young people to learn to value and protect basic human rights,” he said.
De Guzman also said all government actions that restrain the free press should be stopped.
“Persecution and intimidation of the media must cease at once because it is enshrined in our Constitution that there must be no law or policy that would curtail press freedom.
Rather, we should all strive to promote mass media because that is how we can encourage critical thinking and contribute to social progress,” he said.
