By DEE AYROSO
Tags: Libingan ng mga Bayani
Villain in hero’s guise
The Libingan ng mga Bayani is not, as its name suggests, literally a heroes’ cemetery. Soldiers, policemen, and former Philippine presidents can be buried there, apparently on the tenuous presumption that by having worn a police or military uniform, or being elected to the Philippine presidency, an individual becomes a hero — meaning an exemplar…
Reaping the whirlwind
“…in the end you cannot cheat history. History will not err in its judgement because no matter how you fabricate achievements, glorify events or conceal truths, a true people’s history will eventually unmask the fake heroes and the judgement on them will be harsh and severe.” — Renato Constantino, September 24, 1975 Finally, the Marcoses…
Burial fit for FM
By DEE AYROSO
Let the dead bury their dead
“Cemetery of Heroes” is the English translation of “Libingan ng mga Bayani,” where burying the remains of the late Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. has been resisted for years by most of the victims of the fascist dictatorship he erected on the ruins of the Republic in 1972. That has not always been the Cemetery’s name. Established…