CABINET Secretary Leoncio Evasco said that the continued condemnation faced by the government and President Rodrigo Duterte for allowing the burial of Former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is a form of democratic practice and is allowed.
“Let it be. That is part of the democratic practice where people can air their sentiments on the matter and secondly, you cannot get the 100 percent support of the people, because there are always [those] other person[s] who [have] another way of seeing things and you have to allow that without even repressing them,” Evasco said in an interview with VoxPop Davao on Sunday.
Evasco added that he is confident that despite this issue, majority of the people have already felt the honesty of the President on his work and commitment for the country.
He said that personally, he thinks that the previous administrations could have done something to prevent the burial from happening but they did not do it.
“Did they do something to prevent by law that Marcos will be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani? They did not, because they were afraid of their masters. They were afraid. [But] Duterte is not afraid. It is legal…,” he said.
Evasco said that despite being a martial law victim himself, he understands the SC ruling.
“Dili na mawala sa akoa ang kasuko, pero I have to respect the law if it is the law (The anger will stay, but I have to respect the law if it is the law),” he said.
Evasco said that there is only one thing that he does not want to happen and that is, others might use Marcos’ burial issue to spite the administration.
“Dili nako gusto gamiton ng lubong [ni Marcos sa LNMB] if only to spite the administration by people who cannot accept defeat (I do not want Marcos’ burial to be used by the people who cannot accept defeat to spite the administration),” he said.