Boy Scout Law

Nagtataka man ako kung bakit kailangan pang gumawa ng survey ni Vice President Jejomar Binay kung dapat o hindi ilibing ang dating diktador na si Ferdinand Marcos sa libingan ng mga bayani ay naniniwala akong tumpak na desisyon ang kanyang gagawain para sa Pilipinas.

Unang dahilan na naisip ko kung bakit hindi niya lalapastanganin ang buhay at dugong inialay ng mga lumaban kay Marcos ay dahil isang tunay na Boy Scout si Binay.

Alam kong may Scout Honor si Binay. Hindi ba't ilang beses na nating nakita si Binay na nakasuot ng uniporme ng boy scout. At walang boy scout na tatalikod sa Scout Law na ang unang batas ay "A SCOUT'S HONOUR IS TO BE TRUSTED". Dahil dito, masasabi kong may tiwala akong gagawain ni Binay ang tama.

Ang ikalawang batas ng scouting ay "A SCOUT IS LOYAL". Tapat si Binay. Bagamat napabalita nitong nakaraang halalan na nagkaroon siya ng ibang relasyon maliban sa kanyang asawa ay naniniwala akong sa huli, ang katapatan ni Binay sa kanyang bansa ang magwawagi. Eh ano, kung medyo malapit siya kay Cong. Salvador Escudero III, ang dating Agriculgure minister ni Marcos at siyang may akda ng resolution sa Mababang Kapulungan na ilibig si Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani? Sa huli ang katapatan ni Binay sa mamamayan ang masusunod.

Hindi nga ba't si Binay pa ang naghatid sa kanyang ka-brod na suspek ng NBI sa Taft bombing? Eh ano kung kapwa sila kasapi ng Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity, ang mahalaga ay hustisya. Di ba vice?

Alam din ng marami na si Binay ay lumaban sa mga Marcoses noong panahon ng diktadura. Kilala pa nga si Binay bilang Cory man. At noong sinasalanta ng coup d'eta ang pamahalaang Aquino, hindi ba't humawak pa ng baril si Binay, upang ipaglaban ang Aquino government. Kung naiputok niya ito o hindi ay ibang usapin, pero noong mga panahong yaon siya nabansagang Rambotito.

Eh ano ba ang paki natin kung mula noong Edsa 1 magpahanga ngayon ay Binay ang nakaupo sa Makati. Gusto lang kasing ituloy ng mga Binay - ng kanyang asawa at anak - ang kanyang makamasang programa sa Makati. May problema ba kung inihalal ng taga-Makati bilang kapalit ni Rambotito ang kanyang asawang si Dr. Elenita Binay at anak niyang si Jun jun?

Hindi naman siguro ito matatawag na dynasty kungdi government service. Ang dynasty ay yong katulad ng mga Romualdez, Escudero, Arroyo o Osmena. Wala pa namang isang siglong naghahari ang mga Binay sa Makati, mahigit dalawang dekada lang.

Isa pang Scout law ay ang "A SCOUT IS CLEAN IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED". Alam kong malinis ang pag-iisip ni Binay, maging ang kanyang pananalita at ang kanyang aksyon. At hindi niya sisirain ang kanyang pagiging Boy Scout dahil lamang kay Marcos, na puwede namang ilibing kahit saan maliban lamang sa Libingan ng mga Bayani dahil nga hindi naman siya bayani.

Alam kong maaasahan si Binay, isa kasi siyang Boy Scout!!!

Narito ang OPEN LETTER TO VICE PRESIDENT JEJOMAR BINAY ni Akbayan acting president Machris Cabreros ukol sa ginagawang survey ni bise presidente kung dapat o hindi ilibing si Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani.

May 25, 2011


HONORABLE VICE PRESIDENT JEJOMAR "JOJO" C. BINAY
Office of the Vice President
Republic of the Philippines
7th Floor, PNB Financial Center, President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City


Dear Mr. Vice President,


Warm greetings!

We, in Akbayan Party wish to inform you of our deepest concern regarding the consultations you are conducting to aid you in deciding over the proposed plan to bury the remains of Ferdinand Marcos burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. We believe any consultation to decide the matter is already too late primarily because the Filipinos in overthrowing the Marcos regime already decided such a matter. The groundswell of popular dissent manifested during the first people power uprising should have served to nail shut any chances of Marcos being written in history as a hero, but with the clamor from some congressmen to give the late dictator honors which we feel are not deserved, the issue has become more than a simple burial and has now become an attempt to revise and rewrite history.

Mr. Vice President, you also came out publicly in stating that this consultation process involves raising the issue with all the COMELEC-registered political parties asking their respective opinion on the matter. We have not received any letter from the Office of the Vice President asking us about our position. Nevertheless, we would like to register that we are vehemently opposing any posthumous recognition of Marcos’s alleged heroism because there is no heroism to speak of. A burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is an affront to those who suffered and died under his regime.

Mr. Vice President, we can only imagine the burden you are carrying concerning this issue. Being a former human rights lawyer and an opponent of the Marcos regime, such personal history may be deemed by some as an issue to be surmounted in order to make an objective decision on the matter. However, we feel that such a background should instead serve as your moral compass to decide firmly on the issue and end any talks of “consultations”. We believe any consultation is premised on the uncertainty of the matter. However, it is already certain that Marcos imprisoned and killed thousands of Filipinos who fought his tyrannical regime, corrupted the military by giving it wide latitude to commit excesses and looted the nation’s coffers. Those are not under contention. Those are facts.

To be clear, we are not against the burial of Marcos. We are against his burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. We are against a hero burial for an unrepentant dictator. No one should be deprived of the right to be buried in his own country, and no one is depriving Marcos of such a right. But to revise history by repackaging a brutal dictator into a hero is a transgression against an entire generation who fought for the same freedom and democracy that we enjoy today.


His family could always lay his remains to rest in his hometown or somewhere where it will not offend us as a nation and as a people. Not only would that be more appropriate, it would also spare the families of the victims of his regime further anguish and pain.

We hope you are one with us in this issue.



Yours truly,



(SGD) MARIE CHRIS CABREROS
Acting President
Akbayan Party