Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Judge, we are here to decide on the

fate of a dead body, who when still living headed an administration, a part of whose
legacy are, by the numbers, 3,257 people killed, an estimated 35,000 tortured and
70,000 arrested over a period of a ten-year dictatorship.
Archimedes Trajano, a student leader who questioned Imee Marcos capability
as head of Kabataang Barangay, whose crumpled body was then found strewn on
the streets of Manila; Danilo dela Fuente, who while playing basketball was taken by
the members of the military force accused without evidence of being responsible for
throwing a grenade in a rally in Manila, asked to strip naked, then repeatedly hit
with a bench; Marie Maiso, who was unfortunately with a friend holding leaflets to
explain their cause against a demolition, was taken to prison with some others
including her brother-in-law forced to strip naked and put in a room filled with ice for
three days. We could go on and on, one by one telling the stories of the number
previously mentioned, and the names would just pile up, and we will reach a point
when there wont even be a name we can associate to a number. All these
happened during the regime of the man who by the Presidents resolution may be
buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
A symbol. Just like the Fall of the Berlin Wall, which led to the reunification of
Berlin, and then of Germany, the Tearing of the Cedulas, which marked a revolution
and then freedom from colonization, and many others. Burial in the Libingan ng
mga Bayani may not confer the status of a hero, but it is a symbol, which so regards
that those who rest in it shall be worthy of perpetuation, emulation and serve as an
inspiration to this generation and those to come. And Ferdinand Marcos, 10 th
President of the Philippines, a dictator and whose regime is guilty of gross human
rights violations, massive corruption and plunder of government coffers, and whose
military record is fraught with myths, factual inconsistencies, and lies is neither
worthy of perpetuation in our memory nor serve as a source of inspiration and
emulation of the present and future generations.
This Court must painstakingly go through the process of examining whether
any claim put forth herein by the parties genuinely undermines the intellectual and
moral fiber of the Constitution. And, by instinct, the Court must defend the
Constitution and itself. In so doing, it is but inevitable to see that the Court has to
respect the fundamental human rights which is both inherent and vested by the
Constitution in the people. These very rights having been trampled on by the
Dictator.
It is a fact that the former-dictator Marcos has been adjudged by both the
Legislative and Judiciary as guilty of the many cases filed against him and thus, it
would be the height of absurdity for the Executive branch to insist on paying tribute
to an individual who has been condemned by the two other branches of government
as a dictator, a plunderer, and a human rights violator. It matters not whether
Marcos is to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as a hero, soldier, or former
president, because it all boils down to him, being accorded honor, any view contrary
to this is a simple case of make believe because the existence of this argument is
what prompted this very case in the first place.
It is actually a good thing for the Marcoses at least, because they have a
body to bury, while it is an impossibility for tens and hundreds of other martial law
victims, because their families may never be able to be accorded the same
blessing. These people, with bodies or none, named or unnamed, will remain as not
having been given justice, and more so spit on, in the very instance that Marcos is
accorded honor when he deserves scant for the blood he has bathed on that is not
his.

Honorable Judge, I ask you this, will you be prepared to carry the human
rights violator, plunderer, dictators coffin leaving a trail of liquid crimson in his
wake, blood that belongs to the 3,257 people killed and 35,000 people tortured?