A LITTLE PLOT BEHIND THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
Has Malacanang already forgotten a past brouhaha over the full military honors given by the elite Presidential Security Group (PSG) for a dead sniffer dog? The public was even stunned to read in the papers and view on TV about the lucky K-9's burial, complete with the playing of taps, the sprinkling of holy water by a Palace chaplain, a rolley of rifle fire from an honor guard platoon, a Philippine flag draped over its coffin, and a strictly subdued atmosphere by the presidential guards. Has our country gone to the dogs? Never!
That Palace K-9 who received military honors not given to soldiers killed in Mindanao in the long war against insurgents joined famous dogs like President Franklin Roosevelt's Fala and President Richard Nixon's Checkers.
Has Malacanang already forgotten a past brouhaha over the full military honors given by the elite Presidential Security Group (PSG) for a dead sniffer dog? The public was even stunned to read in the papers and view on TV about the lucky K-9's burial, complete with the playing of taps, the sprinkling of holy water by a Palace chaplain, a rolley of rifle fire from an honor guard platoon, a Philippine flag draped over its coffin, and a strictly subdued atmosphere by the presidential guards. Has our country gone to the dogs? Never!
That Palace K-9 who received military honors not given to soldiers killed in Mindanao in the long war against insurgents joined famous dogs like President Franklin Roosevelt's Fala and President Richard Nixon's Checkers.
Well, another dog always gets us the headlines around the world albeit in ridicule - the common askal. A few years back, Filipinos got worldwide shellacking for reports in London newspapers that Pinoys were dog-eaters. Bad.
But strangely so, to this day, Malacanang is still undecided about giving the same honors to a former head of state, President Ferdinand Marcos. A little plot behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is where Marcos chose as his final resting place. It is where Imelda is determined to bury him someday. It was his dying wish, she said, and she will respect it, even in defiance of the late former President Corazon Aquino, who insisted that he be buried instead in Laoag, Ilocos Norte - but didn't find it odd to bury a dog with all the necessary honors befitting a hero. Blas Ople, who was very close to the late Marcos, confirmed that in his intimate moments of conversations with him, Marcos often stated that he wanted to be buried behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier because he saw himself as a simple soldier who served his country in war and in peace.
It would do well for this government to bury this issue (pun unintended) once and for all, and give honor where honor is due.
But strangely so, to this day, Malacanang is still undecided about giving the same honors to a former head of state, President Ferdinand Marcos. A little plot behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is where Marcos chose as his final resting place. It is where Imelda is determined to bury him someday. It was his dying wish, she said, and she will respect it, even in defiance of the late former President Corazon Aquino, who insisted that he be buried instead in Laoag, Ilocos Norte - but didn't find it odd to bury a dog with all the necessary honors befitting a hero. Blas Ople, who was very close to the late Marcos, confirmed that in his intimate moments of conversations with him, Marcos often stated that he wanted to be buried behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier because he saw himself as a simple soldier who served his country in war and in peace.
It would do well for this government to bury this issue (pun unintended) once and for all, and give honor where honor is due.
(Image from http://www.notablebiographies.com/)
