Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION No.
______________________________________________________________________________
Introduced by Representatives CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE, EMMI
A. DE JESUS, ANTONIO L. TINIO, ARLENE D. BROSAS, FRANCE L.
CASTRO,
ARIEL B. CASILAO and SARAH JANE I. ELAGO
______________________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
STRONGLY OPPOSING A HEROS BURIAL FOR FORMER
PRESIDENT FERDINAND MARCOS AT THE LIBINGAN NG MGA
BAYANI FOR BEING A GRAVE TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE AND
MONUMENTAL HISTORICAL DISTORTION TANTAMOUNT TO
DECLARING AS A HERO A DICTATOR THAT COMMITTED GROSS
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, PLUNGED THE NATION DEEPER
INTO DEBT AND FOREIGN CONTROL AND PLUNDERED THE
NATIONS RESOURCES
WHEREAS, President Rodrigo Duterte announced as early as May 24, that
former president Ferdinand Marcos will be buried at the Libingan ng mga
Bayani;
WHEREAS, thirty (30) years have passed since the fall of the Marcos
dictatorship and yet the atrocities and crimes sanctioned and committed
by then President Ferdinand Marcos and backed by the United States
remain a dark chapter in the country's history. The Marcos dictatorship
violently suppressed political dissent, committed crimes against humanity,
plundered the countrys resources, and perpetuated US imperialisms
stranglehold on the nation;
WHEREAS, under the authoritarian rule of Marcos, human rights violations
formed the apex of a pyramid of terror 3,257 killed, 35,000 tortured,
70,000 incarcerated, 737 Filipinos "disappeared" from 1976 to 1983. Nearly
four times those killed, tortured -- 2,250 or 77 percent of all victims were
summarily executed or salvaged. Many were tortured, mutilated and
dumped on roadsides for public display to create widespread fear. Marcos

and his family have never acknowledged these grave violations and have
never apologized to the Filipino people up to the present;
WHEREAS, the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto
(SELDA), a group of former martial law political detainees, said that a
heroes burial for Marcos is a travesty of history and that it is a mockery
of the horrors that the Filipino people endured during the Martial Law era;
WHEREAS, the international community has long recognized the countless
grave human rights violations and the crimes against humanity of the
Marcos regime, especially after the initial victory bestowed upon almost
10,000 of the Martial Law victims through the compensation ruling of the
United States District Court of Hawaii. Meanwhile, the Bantayog ng mga
Bayani has a Wall of Remembrance for martial law martyrs and heroes; its
museum houses proofs of the abductions, arrests, killings and enforced
disappearances of those who fought the Marcos dictatorship;
WHEREAS, Marcos 20-year rule from 1966 to 1986 plunged the economy
into a spiraling crisis weighed down by heavy foreign borrowings and
profligate spending for the benefit of the Marcos family and their cronies
through what became notoriously known as crony capitalism. When
Marcos assumed the presidency in 1966, the countrys foreign debt stood
below $1 billion. By 1976 the Philippines was among the top 100 recipients
of loans from the World Bank, with an external debt that rose from US$2.3
billion in 1970 to more than US$17.2 billion in 1980. By the time Marcos
was ousted from power and fled the country during the first People Power
uprising in 1986, the economy had a standing foreign debt of US $28
billion, trapping the country into a cycle of ever-growing debts. According
to research think tank IBON Foundation, the foreign debts under Marcos
alone will be shouldered by Filipino taxpayers until 2025;
WHEREAS, it was Marcos who issued Presidential Decree 1177 or the
Budget Reform Decree of 1977, which provides for automatic
appropriations for debt payments, no matter how illegitimate and onerously
acquired, and at the expense of providing little for basic social services;
WHEREAS, in exchange for these loans from the World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, Paris Club and other creditors, Marcos pursued an exportoriented, import-dependent, foreign-investment led and debt-driven
economy that led to massive poverty, unemployment and near economic
collapse;
WHEREAS, foreign control on the country greatly deepened with the
Marcos governments subservience to IMF-World Bank impositions, US
geopolitical policies, and presence of US military bases and facilities;

WHEREAS, the Marcos regime was also known for its widespread and
systemic corruption and plunder of the national coffers. It is estimated that
as much as 33 percent of the country's total borrowings during his term
were pocketed by Marcos and his cronies. The Presidential Commission on
Good Government (PCGG) places Marcos ill-gotten wealth at between $5
billion to $10 billion. Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez pegs at $13.4
billion the money deposited by Marcos and his family in various Swiss
banks. The Marcoses still face numerous cases in court in relation to this
amassed loot;
WHEREAS, even Marcos war-hero claim has long been exposed as a sham.
The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, a group of Catholic
educators, asserts that the elaborate tale that Marcos led the Maharlika
guerilla unit during the Japanese occupation was exposed as a fictitious
story by American historian Alfred McCoy. An official United States military
investigation made right after the war already declared the tale a fraud.
Was Marcos really a well-decorated soldier? He may have been a war
veteran just like many Filipinos of his generation. But a hero certainly he
was not. The terrible suffering and damage wrought by Marcos 14 years of
authoritarian rule is undeniable, CEAP declares;
WHEREAS, moves to give Marcos a heros burial would send the absurd
message that the Filipino people overthrew a hero during People Power I
and that the international communitys sympathy for that uprising is wrong.
Additionally, Congress would become a laughingstock since it passed a
compensation bill for human rights violations victims under the presidency
of a hero;
WHEREAS, the Marcos family made a deal with the Ramos administration
to have the body of the late dictator returned to the Philippines with the
following conditions:1) To bring back the body without fanfare; 2)To bury
him in Ilocos Norte; 3)To give military honors up to the rank of Major only
in Ilocos. Therefore the Marcoses already waived their questionable right
decades ago;
WHEREAS, with his legacy of plunder, corruption, human rights violations,
puppetry and flawed economic policies, Marcos does not deserve a hero's
burial. Thus, government must put an end to the issue, oppose the proposal
and validate the injustices made to millions of Filipinos, in turn affirming
that crimes against the nation will not be tolerated and taken lightly.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the House of Representatives
strongly oppose the heros burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at
the Libingan ng mga Bayani for being a grave travesty of justice and
monumental historical distortion tantamount to declaring hero a dictator

who committed crimes against humanity, plunged the nation deeper into
foreign debt and control and plundered the nations resources.
Adopted,
Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE
Bayan Muna Partylist

Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO

ACT Teachers Partylist

Rep. EMMI DE JESUS

Gabriela Womens Party

Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO

ACT Teachers Partylist
Party

Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS

Gabriela Womens

Rep. ARIEL B. CASILAO

ELAGO
Anakpawis Partylist

Rep. SARAH JANE I.

Kabataan Partylist