'Ask Ramos' - Imee on Ferdinand Marcos burial

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte – To people against the burial of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos (FEM) at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani 2 p.m. on Friday on grounds of alleged human rights violations during the Martial Law years, his eldest daughter and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee R. Marcos had two words: "Ask Ramos."

Former President Fidel V. Ramos was chief of the Philippine Constabulary, which was during the Marcos administration a major service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before merging with the Integrated National Police to form today's Philippine National Police.

He was allegedly responsible for directing multiple abuses committed by the PC in provinces, particularly in Samar and Leyte.

Rigoberto D. Tiglao of the Manila Times, who was a student activist, labor organizer, and "firebrand communist" (his own words), wrote earlier.

 "Arrest orders against me and my late wife... were issued by Ramos," adding, "it was the PC's top anti-subversive unit, the 5th Constabulary Security Unit... that arrested us, with one of their tall burly soldiers beating me up."

Tiglao and his late wife were incarcerated for nearly two years in Camp Aguinaldo and Fort Bonifacio under the supervision of former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, Sr., the administrator of Martial Law.

Tiglao said, "The important question to answer should be obvious, and Ramos and Enrile should tell us what they think happened: Was there a policy of the Marcos regime to systematically kill the opposition and torture them? Or were the human rights abuses exceptional cases, aberrations, similar to cases of police brutality?"

In an interview with Karen Davila, Gov. Marcos said, "Mayroon daw nagsasabi na kailangang admission of guilt. Parang ang bigat naman kasi I'm not aware of any policy or any presidential order saying na kailangang gawin itong mga karumal-dumal na krimen."

"In my heart, if in any way you have hurt someone, you should say sorry even if it's not intentional, even if it was not policy. Okay lang naman sa'kin, pero yung admission of guilt.. unang-una, ang liit-liit ko noon. Paano ko ia-admit, hindi ko naman alam?" she added.

Even Enrile in his autobiography, Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir, wrote, "I was the administrator of Martial Law. The powers of Martial law were delegated to me. Any abuse of martial law was my responsibility."

Last August, Ramos said during a press briefing on the burial, "I said officially let the people decide. Who are the people? Our representatives and senators now sitting in Congress, representing and belonging to [the] House of Representatives and the Senate."

Ramos was president from 1992 to 1998, and it was he who sealed the 1992 deal with the Marcos family to fly FEM's remains from Hawaii, United States, to Paoay, Ilocos Norte and have him buried there.

According to Ramos' interior secretary at that time, Rafael Alunan, the deal was "not like an agreement that binds the Government of the Philippines. This is a kasunduan between the President and the Marcos family; our understanding ended when we left government."

Alunan added that President Duterte has the right to have FEM's remains interred at the LNMB. This was affirmed by the 9-5-1 ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) allowing the said burial.