Gregorio Miguel Pallugna   WITH the flood of opinons, explanations, critiques and “highly intellectual” rants on social media very recently, it almost feels redundant to write about the “Burial.” In fact, without having to elaborate, anybody reading this must already know what the writer is referring to. The burial of Ferdinand Marcos has aroused so much discussion on all fronts that one might say this article must be simply repeating what people already know very well. After all, everybody knows that the Supreme Court already ruled that Marcos should be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, right? Everyone already knows that there is a law that authorizes the burial of all presidents, soldiers and patriots at the National Pantheon which is more commonly known as the Libingan ng mga Bayani, agree? And all persons who watch or read the news already know that the Marcoses and the authorities violated the rules when they immediately buried Marcos while there was still a pending Motion for Reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s decision, correct? Wrong. Wrong. And Wrong. It is not true that the Supreme Court ruled that Marcos should be buried at the Libingan ng may Bayani. What the Supreme Court merely said in its very recent decision is that the issue of whether or not Marcos should be buried at the Libingan is a political question. Simply, this means that it is totally up to the Filipino people to decide through its duly elected president, and the courts cannot interfere unless there is grave abuse of discretion. According to the Supreme Court, considering that the President did not violate any law or Constitution in making his decision, the court cannot meddle. Secondly, the Supreme Court ruled that all the persons who filed the consolidated petitions against the burial of Marcos had no right to file the cases because they did not stand to be directly or indirectly injured or disadvantaged by the burial. That much is made clear in the decision. In a nutshell, the Supreme Court refused to decide the cases and said that the President can call the shots on this one. After all, according to the Court, the petitioners are not the right persons to file the case. It is also not true that the Libingan ng mga Bayani is the National Pantheon mentioned in a law where dead presidents, soldiers and patriots can be buried. At least, according to the Supreme Court it is not. The decision of the Court clearly emphasizes that at the moment, there is no National Pantheon and the Libingan ng mga Bayani is an entirely different place which has been improperly named considering that there is no requirement whatsoever that a person must be a “hero” before he can be buried there. Cory Aquino made sure that Marcos could not come home alive, but she probably forgot to make sure that once he comes home in a coffin, he cannot be buried at a cemetery called Libingan ng mga Bayani. Aquino, both mother and son, and the Congress could have ensured that Marcos cannot be buried at the Libingan but they failed to do just that. Finally, it is not true that the Marcoses or the military authorities and even the president violated the rules when they immediately buried Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani when the petitioners still had the right to file a motion for reconsideration. The filing of the petitions for certiorari and mandamus with the Supreme Court does not prevent the president from deciding to have Marcos buried at the Libingan and from implementing this decision. It was the Temporary Restraining Order that precluded him from doing that. Now that there is no TRO anymore, the President has all the right to effect his decision. And, that is exactly what he did. In any case, even if the Supreme Court would deem it improper still that would not change the Court’s decision by itself. The Highest Court of the land has spoken. Whether or not the President’s decision was right or wrong will now be left for history to decide. After all, the people elected him with an overwhelming number of votes. If the Filipino people think that he has betrayed their trust by having Marcos buried at the Libingan, the remedy is to have him impeached by Congress, which, under the state of affairs, is highly unlikely. Of course, the Supreme Court may still change its mind and reverse its decision upon reconsideration. Considering the plethora of reasons given by the Supreme Court for its dismissal of the petitions however, that too is highly unlikely. It pays to know your rights.