Rogelio C.

Maligaya I
21-02372 | ARC 2108

One of the most controversial issues in our country, especially the past few
years, is whether Ferdinand Marcos Sr. deserves a hero's burial. Ferdinand Emmanuel
Edralin Marcos Sr., served as president of the Philippines from 1965 until 1986. He was
a prominent Filipino figure. He carried out extensive initiatives for economic and
infrastructural improvement. But along with his many achievements also comes with
many flaws. Massive corruption, nepotism, political persecution, and breaches of human
rights plagued his rule. With that it is really hard to conclude whether which is the best
answer to the question “Ferdinand Marcos Sr.: Did he deserve a hero's burial? ”. But in
my opinion, after my research and gathered information and opinions coming from
different sources, I agree that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. deserves to be buried in a hero's
burial.

Primarily, for one person to deserve to have a hero’s burial, he/she must attain or
have achieved different requirements. I believe that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. has met
those requirements despite his imperfections during his reign. One of the most important
things that makes Ferdinand Marcos Sr. deserving is that he survived the infamous Bataan
Death March. Marcos was allegedly one of the 78,000 Filipino and American troops who
surrendered at Bataan on April 9, 1942, four months after the Japanese initiated their
invasion of the Philippines. Aside from this, he also made a lot of achievements during
his presidency. He asserted Martial Law that maintained peace and order to the
community that time. This is a very controversial topic as many different insights arise
on this. He also is responsible to new society-educational reforms, labor forms, and land
reforms social services. More infrastructure, hospitals, and schools were developed by
him than by all of his predecessors together. He also encouraged to practice "crony
capitalism," which aimed to give Filipino businesspeople the monopoly that had
previously belonged to Chinese and Mestizo oligarchs. And last but not the least he also
promoted filipino culture and nationalism through establishing the Cultural Center of the
Philippines which helped our country be competent and known in the world during those
times.

All in all, I believe that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. deserves to be buried in a hero’s
burial. Marcos should be judged in his totality as a person. “While he was not all good,
he was not pure evil either. Certainly, just a human, he erred like us” said by Alexander
B. Cabrera. Marcos Sr. could have done many things that many people contradict but
he also did a lot of things that many people have benefited from and is still being
enjoyed and thanked until now which I believe makes him deserving to be buried in
Hero’s burial.
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