Whitewashing Marcos’ crimes endangers the peace talks
NDFP Media Office
Statement from NDFP Peace Panel Chair Fidel Agcaoili
November 29, 2016
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) shares the concern of the Filipino people that the surreptitious burial of the alleged remains of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) last November 18 forms part of a sinister scheme to whitewash the crimes of the late dictator and revise the people’s historical judgment against him and his brutal martial law regime.
Whitewashing Marcos’ crimes and prettifying the dictatorship likewise run counter to the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) which the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) signed in 1998, particularly Article 5, Part III of the CARHRIHL which requires both Parties to respect and support the rights of the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime and obliges the GRP to render them justice and enable compensation to them.
Marcos’ burial at the LNMB obviously constitutes rank injustice to the martial law victims.
The GRP’s attempt to obliterate Marcos’ crimes from the nation’s collective memory and falsely portray him as a hero is a brazen violation of the CARHRIHL. They are moreover detrimental to the ongoing peace negotiations because they seriously put to doubt whether the GRP is at all capable of complying with any future substantive agreements that may be forged.