UCA News
Contribute

Hijacking heroism: Ferdinand Marcos and his burial

Hero's funeral for former Philippine dictator 'vindicates his regime and the atrocities of the Martial Law period'
Hijacking heroism: Ferdinand Marcos and his burial

The plan to bury former give a hero's burial to former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos divides the country. A recent survey shows that some 50 percent of Filipinos think Marcos is not worthy to be buried in Manila's Heroes' Cemetery. (Photo by Eli Sepe)

 

Published: September 21, 2016 06:16 AM GMT
Updated: September 21, 2016 06:16 AM GMT

Heroism is a grand feat for its very enemy can only be as grand. All over the world, heroes are giants of history because they lived — and died — for causes beyond the self.

Such causes are so big that to die for them are no longer rational to the unheroic.  

Independence, sovereignty, and liberty are powerful ideas that define the freedom of not just one person but a nation. And yet, that a person dies for the nation is incomprehensible to many.  

This is why heroes, when they die, become powerful icons that shape national consciousness. They become embodiments of virtues to which the ordinary citizen can aspire.

The grandness of their feats is memorialized in towering monuments that remind us that ordinary individuals can one day be big. They are exalted in songs that move a people to come together and fight on if they must.   

 

Marcos, the hero?

So it is troubling to say the least that a man who divided the country in unprecedented ways is now fast turning into a hero. If he were not, then President Rodrigo Duterte's "go" signal to bury him in Manila’s Heroes' Cemetery should not be an issue.

While he was still campaigning, Duterte made a promise that Marcos would be interred there once he became president. Marcos' body currently lies in state in a family-run mausoleum in Ilocos Norte. Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989 and his body was brought back to the Philippines in 1993.      

The government contends that it is merely making good on that promise. The president and his many supporters believe that there are no legal impediments to this plan. The regulations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the administrator of the cemetery, simply state that soldiers and presidents — Marcos was both — can be buried there.  

But to think it is a non-issue is a mistake. In fact, the public is neatly divided on this. Some 50 percent of Filipinos, according to a survey, think Marcos is "worthy to be buried" in Heroes' Cemetery. The other half rejects the idea.

Heroes embody the virtues of a nation. A nation divided like this means that the heroism Marcos embodies is still suspect. The issue therefore cannot be settled based on legal clarity.  

At the heart of this burial is a moral question: What good does burying Marcos in Heroes' Cemetery bring?  

This administration and the former dictator's supporters believe that it would allow the nation to finally "move on." 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Burying him there only vindicates his regime and the atrocities of the Martial Law period. If it were not so important to his family and many loyalists, why do they insist that he deserves this recognition?

In other words, no one moves on but those who are responsible for the corruption and atrocities of Martial Law. They move on towards heroic vindication. The symbolic propaganda capital of Heroes' Cemetery will afford them this opportunity.  

It matters to the Marcoses. For once, they must feel what it means to be deprived of something so precious.

 

Deeper problem

This dilemma over Marcos is only a symptom of a deeper problem: the hijacking of heroism.

There are many reasons that could account for this: weak collective memory, income inequality, and unabated corruption that continues to affect people from all walks of life.

Taken together, these all constitute the unfulfilled hopes and dreams of those who fought the dictator in the 1980s.

Many people then ask whether People Power, that which inspired bloodless revolutions in other places, was worth it in retrospect.

The consequence is irrefutable. The fight against the dictatorship that brought people together in 1986 has disintegrated into individual struggles against the hardships of life. The promise of freedom and progress remains elusive.

To make matters worse, the institutions of the state are perceived to be self-serving and working against public interest. Service, justice, quality, and equality remain unexpected of the bureaucracy and can only be bought at the right price.  

People therefore have to fend for themselves. People have to aspire to be middle class because only then can they afford the quality of life they so deserve: education, health care, public transportation, and security.

In this sense, that many people can easily dismiss Marcos' burial in Heroes' Cemetery as a trivial affair only means that the dictator is no longer the grand enemy that he once was. Move on, they would say, because there are other problems that we must focus on.

 

Heroes we are left with

Now that heroism has been hijacked, what kind of heroes are we left with?  

Personal ones. Our heroes are those who matter to us as individuals: parents, friends, teachers, and overseas relatives who keep sending remittances to send us to school and provide for our needs.

Nevertheless, these everyday heroes are still important. They give us a glimpse of heroism that has now been hijacked. They are in the line of history's giants, those who sacrificed their own lives so that others may live.

It is for this reason that we must remember those who fought hard so that we would be who we are today — as individuals and as a people. 

If we stick to this conviction, we know we cannot turn into a hero him who instead sacrificed others so he would live on.

Jayeel Serrano Cornelio is a sociologist and the director of the Development Studies Program, Ateneo de Manila University. Follow him on Twitter @jayeel_cornelio.

 

Help UCA News to be independent
Dear reader,
Lent is the season during which catechumens make their final preparations to be welcomed into the Church.
Each year during Lent, UCA News presents the stories of people who will join the Church in proclaiming that Jesus Christ is their Lord. The stories of how women and men who will be baptized came to believe in Christ are inspirations for all of us as we prepare to celebrate the Church's chief feast.
Help us with your donations to bring such stories of faith that make a difference in the Church and society.
A small contribution of US$5 will support us continue our mission…
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News
Asian Bishops
Latest News
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia