Sen. Bam: Hi Karmina, Ron and Barry. Magandang hapon po.

Q: How did you take this decision – the Supreme Court voting 9-5 allowing the burial of the late dictator at the LNMB?

Sen. Bam:  Well, I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re quite disappointed with this decision. Alam mo, Karmina, we were hoping that they wouldn’t just vote on technicalities but they’d take into account how this would affect our history. Now, iyong nabasa kanina ni Atty. Jose regarding how they decided really focused on technicalities, specific provisions na wala naman daw specific provisions na nagsasabi na hindi puwedeng ilibing si Former President Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani.

But I think the petitioners and a lot of people wanted them to go beyond the technicalities and look at how this would affect our history. Napakasayang, napaka-disappointing na ganito ang naging desisyon nila.

 

Q: The Marcoses, they’re saying that with this decision they’re going to be moving on but how are you Senator Bam going to move forward from this decision?

 Sen. Bam: Well, alam mo, matagal na rin itong napag-uusapan. Moving forward is fine. Pero kung titingnan mo naman, wala naman [silang] perang binalik. Wala namang pagpapapatawad na hiningi. Ganun-ganon na lang.

 The Marcoses are really looking at this decision as vindication for them. On one hand, the Supreme Court is looking at technicalities. On the other hand, the Marcos family is looking at vindication. At the end of the day, look at the darkest time in our history kung saan napakaraming humans rights abuses ang nangyari. Napakaraming nakulong. Napakaraming pinatay.

This is the result.

 It’s really disappointing and on our end we had those hearings on how martial law is taught in schools. I guess we will continue to push that. The DepEd has said that they will do their best to teach Martial Law properly in our schools. Mayroon pa rin tayong batas pagdating sa reparation ng mga Martial Law victims na hindi pa napapatupad completely. We’ll focus on that even with this decision. That is how we will move on.

 

Q: As you dissect what happened here, Senator Bam, who dropped the ball here? We’re talking about 27 years of the Marcoses really wanting for this day to come and 27 years as well of sort of miseducation for the younger generation as to the place of the Marcoses in our history. Senator?

 Sen. Bam: Well, this was a campaign promise delivered at the expense of history. If you look at it, inamin naman ni President Duterte na campaign promise niya ito sa mga Marcoses. But it was a campaign promise delivered at the expense of our history.  Because of this decision, ililibing ang isang diktador sa Libingan ng mga Bayani. How crazy is that?

It’s disappointing. It’s against our history kung tutuusin. We’ll see what will happen next, kung ano ang mangyayari sa mga susunod na mga araw.

 

Q: We were talking to Mon Casiple awhile ago, Sec. Gen of the Humans Rights group Claimants 1081. He says this decision can be seen as a dimunition of the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Your thoughts on that?

Sen. Bam: Of course we still have to respect the [code and] core values of government and I made a statement before that we’ll be banking on the Supreme Court to make the right decision on this matter.

 Maybe it would be too much to say that this lessens their power or their authority but I’ll go as far as saying I’m quite disappointed with this decision.

 

Q: Thanks for joining us.

 

Sen. Bam: Maraming salamat.