STATEMENT OF SEN. FRANCIS PANGILINAN ON SUPREME COURT DECISION

This is a horrible day for democracy.

Thanks to the Supreme Court the Philippines will be a laughing stock of the world. We kicked out a reviled dictator and now we are honoring him by burying him in our national heroes cemetery. No less than our Supreme Court wants our citizens, our children to honor a plunderer and tyrant. This is shameful and deplorable.

Now the Supreme Court wants Mr. Marcos, who it previously called a "dictator ... who caused twenty years of political, economic and social havoc in the country", buried alongside our heroes.

Rather than effect closure as the final arbiter of all disputes, the Supreme Court has reopened old wounds. If the Supreme Court thinks it has the final say on the matter, then they are terribly mistaken. Burying Marcos in the Libingan has created a huge divide that will haunt the nation for days and years to come.

The law creating the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Republic Act 289, reserved its sacred grounds for heroes to be emulated by "this generation and of generations still unborn".

Marcos is not a hero. His burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani desecrates our democracy and the memory of those who fought for freedom and justice in our country.