When Martial Law was declared in September 1972, Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan was a microcosm of the maelstrom of killing fields that Mindanao had become. Manila had suspended all classes nationwide. When classes were ordered resumed, many student leaders were missing. There were those who made a choice for other paths. A few had become "desaparecidos." XU came out of that period of history confronted with an added impetus to its mission to resolutely serve the Mindanao peoples.
Forty-four years later, the XU community is once again faced with a crossroad that calls for “the authentic search for truth” in light of its commitment to the Mindanao peoples and aspirations. The peremptory and clandestine burial of Dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18 only showed utter insolence to those who died and suffered under his authoritarian regime. The manner of executing the burial is a tyrannical manifestation of revising our history, indeed the history of our nation, in an attempt to distort the truth for the present and future generations of Filipinos.
The XU community agrees that “moving on” must always be in consonance with the mission to promote justice. Forgiveness demands justice. The Ignatian value of "cura personalis" – the personal care we accord our fellow human beings – becomes our source of wisdom in reflecting upon the issue of burying the late president in the hallowed grounds reserved only for heroes. Clearly, this shocking burial of the kleptocrat has disgraced those millions of Filipinos who chanted, marched, and prayed for days during the peaceful 1986 People Power Revolution along the EDSA Avenue and across the archipelago.
The heroes we honor are those who died for the ardent cause of love and defense of our country, of the poor and the marginalized whose lives mattered not under a reign marked with historic arrogance, ill-gotten wealth, and summary killings, the thousands incarcerated and tortured without any just cause, the unnumbered souls of Moros and Lumads in Mindanao who shed blood for the land that generations of our political leaders have promised them as land for their own, then and as now.
Xavier’s “pursuit of the common good” does not warrant it to support the burial of a deposed leader whose record of governance does not comply with the standard of “emulation and inspiration” required for those to be buried at the Heroes' Cemetery.
As an educational institution and a Mindanao university, the XU community calls for unity and courage in these dark times to fortify our resolve to correct the historical injustices committed during the Martial Law era and to rally behind a nation seeking justice and truth.
Marcos is not a hero, not now, not ever. ∎
(Spearheaded by the XU Social Development Office, this statement was released on Saturday, November 19.)
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