THE Supreme Court has consolidated the three petitions seeking to stop the burial of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Heroes’ Cemetery as announced by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Court also ordered the lawyers of the second and third sets of petitioners to serve a copy of their petitions to the respondents”•the Office of the Solicitor General and the Marcos family”•by 4 p.m. on Friday.
But the Court maintained its deadline for the government to file its comments on the three petitions on August 22.
The tribunal will also proceed with its preliminary conference on the petitions on Monday to thresh out the issues that will be covered by the oral arguments on August 24.
Ibarra Gutierrez, the lawyer for some of the petitioners, said Marcos should not be buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery because he was “a criminal, a plunderer and a human rights violator.” Moreover, he said, the 1987 Constitution prohibits his burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Originally, the high court ordered the government to comment on the petition filed by human rights victims during the Martial Law years led by former Bayan Muna Representatives Saturnino Ocampo and Neri Colmenares, the members of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang and the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto.
The second petition was filed by the Families of the Victims of Involuntary Disappearances along with minority bloc Reps. Edcel Lagman, Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr., Tomasito Villarin, Edgar Erice and Emmanuel A. Billones.
On Friday, former Human Rights Commissioner Loretta Ann Rosales and fellow victims of abuses during Martial Law filed the third petition prodding the high court to stop Malacañang from proceeding with Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.
The petitioners listed as respondents Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Ricardo Visaya, AFP Deputy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Ernesto Enriquez, and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office Administrator Ernesto Carolina.
They also listed as respondents the heirs of Marcos led by former first lady and incumbent Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos.