MANILA - While the Marcos family and their supporters lauded the Supreme Court for allowing dictator Ferdinand Marcos' burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, a lawmaker described Tuesday as a "horrible day for democracy."

Senator Francis Pangilinan, the new acting president of the Liberal Party (LP) who was a student activist during the Martial Law years, said the Philippines will now be the world's laughingstock.

"This is a horrible day for democracy. Thanks to the Supreme Court the Philippines will be a laughingstock of the world. We kicked out a reviled dictator and now we are honoring him by burying him in our national heroes cemetery," Pangilinan said in a statement.

• READ: SC allows Marcos burial in Libingan ng mga Bayani

"No less than our Supreme Court wants our citizens, our children to honor a plunderer and tyrant. This is shameful and deplorable," he added.

Pangilinan said the SC's decision "has reopened old wounds," and a hero's burial for Marcos "desecrates our democracy and the memory of those who fought for freedom and justice in our country."

Senator Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan/LP) said the high court "miserably failed the test of history" by allowing a Marcos interment at a cemetery that is supposedly only for heroes.

"The decision intends to effectively wipe the Marcos slate clean and negate the sacrifices of the thousands of brave souls who fought and suffered under the brutal Marcos dictatorship," lamented Hontiveros.

Hontiveros said SC's decision also contradicted the "historical basis of our 1987 constitution, which was drafted to reject martial law," citing existing laws such as the Human Rights Victims and Reparation Act of 2013.

• READ: Petitioners to appeal SC decision

BALL IN DUTERTE'S COURT

Hontiveros, however, believes President Rodrigo Duterte has the final say and can reverse the SC decision.

"I call on the President to respond to the challenge of history and reject with finality all plans to give Marcos a hero's burial. I ask him to rise above his indebtedness and loyalty to the Marcos family," said Hontiveros, emphasizing that Duterte, who supposedly got campaign funds from the Marcos family, "has no right to return such favors."

• READ: Anti-Marcos forces to press Duterte to change mind on hero's burial

Hontiveros is also soliciting support in Senate for Resolution No. 86, which seeks to block Marcos' burial at LNMB.

Senator Bam Aquino (LP), whose uncle, former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, was killed while Marcos was in power, said that while he respects SC's decision, he was "gravely disappointed."

"Though we must respect the outcome, my heart goes out to the thousands of victims during the darkest years in Philippine history," he said, vowing to be more vigilant.

He said he will work with the Department of Education "to ensure that the truth about martial law is effectively taught in our schools."

• READ: Timeline of Marcos family's comeback in the Philippines

Senator Leila De Lima (LP) said the SC decision was also an insult to thousands of victims of martial law.

"It is lamentable that, while courts in foreign jurisdictions have managed to deliver justice for them, their own court of Last Recourse has failed them," she said.