Palace distances self from anti-Marcos House reso

Malacañang on Thursday distanced itself from the resolution filed by two lawmakers asking the House of Representatives to declare the late President Ferdinand Marcos an “enemy of democracy." “We will leave it with legislature to decide on that," said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda at a press briefing. Lacierda, however, said the lessons of history should not be forgotten. “As far as we are [concerned], we would like to raise the mantra of never again. Never again should we allow dictatorship to flourish; never again should we allow dictatorship to lord over a democratic country like the Philippines," he said. Incumbent President Benigno Aquino III is the son of the late President Corazon Aquino, who replaced Marcos when Marcos’ decades-old regime ended in 1986 through the historic EDSA People Power Revolution. On Wednesday, Akbayan party-list Reps. Walden Bello and Arlene Bag-ao filed House Resolution 1756 asking Congress to “tenaciously" oppose all moves to portray the late dictator as a hero. The filing was done on the 39th anniversary of Marcos' declaration of martial law. Lacierda said Malacañang did not give any order to the lawmakers on the matter. “We have no directive on the Akbayan party-list members. We have no marching instructions for them." On the proposed Marcos burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Lacierda said President Aquino has yet to decide on it but the latter has already studied and will be guided by the negotiations between the Marcos family and the past government. “I think you can gauge from the attitude and conduct and the speeches of the President where his stand on the matter is. So we will leave it at that until an official proclamation is made," he said. President Aquino has tasked Vice President Jejomar Binay to handle the Marcos burial issue. - Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News