by Ram Maxey
THE issue of whether the refrigerated body of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos be given the honor and privilege of being buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (formerly The Republic Memorial Cemetery) appears to have split public opinion right down the middle.
A national survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) had reportedly 50 percent of respondents interviewed approving the idea while 49 percent registered opposition. That is basically the overall picture, although an informal and cursory survey done by EDGE DAVAO among its readers showed an overwhelming 41 “NO” votes over 28 “YES” votes.
Earlier, it was reported in the news that 216 members of the House of Representatives had voted in favor of a resolution allowing Marcos’ burial in the LNMB, and that President Benigno Aquino III had opted to throw the “hot potato” onto Vice President Jejomar Binay’s lap to do with it as he will. That, despite the fact that PNoy’s father, Benigno Jr., was assassinated by Marcos henchmen.
Everybody is waiting with bated breath what Binay will do with that potato. The Veep is in a bind and, like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is in a quandary what to do. The question put to him is a political one. Binay is eyeing the presidency in the next national elections. He is well aware of the potent so-called “Ilocano vote” of Marcos’ “Solid North”. On the other hand, the 49 percent “NO” votes in the SWS survey represents a formidable hurdle to overcome. As Hamlet blurted out in his famous soliloquy at the castle’s ramparts: “To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them?” Binay, like Hamlet, may be confronted with a sea of troubles, one way or the other whatever he does with that potato.
What I’m afraid of is what Imelda Marcos, the dictator’s wife, might do should her husband’s body be allowed burial at the LNMB. Knowing her style of doing things, she might just make the burial a spectacular event to show, as she and her family have claimed all along, that Marcos’ memory is still revered by many of his countrymen. Imagine the thousands of Marcos followers attending the interment. With Imeldific, anything is possible.
I wonder if that scenario has crossed the minds of those who want the late president to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. It could even qualify for entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
